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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



METHODS FOR PRIMARY 
TEACHERS 

By 

HAZEL A. LEWIS 

National Elementary Superintendent, Department of Religious 
Education United Christian Missionary Society 



A textbook in the Standard Course in Teacher Training, 

outlined and approved by the Sunday School 

Council of Evangelical Denominations 



Third Year Specialization Series 



Published for 

THE TEACHER TRAINING PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 

By the 
FRONT RANK PRESS, ST. LOUIS 



^ C V^X»3 






Copyright, 1921 

By 

HAZEL A. LEWIS 



FEB -6™ - ( ^- 



72 c$ 



The Scripture text used throughout this book is from the Amer- 
ican Standard Revised Version, Copyrighted by Thos. Nelson & Sons, 
and used by their permission. 

©GI.A653786 



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V^J 



Sunday School Council Standard Course in Teacher 

Training. 

THIRD YEAR— SPECIALIZATION 

Beginners and Primary Units 

Nos. 1 and 3 separate for each department. 

Periods. 

1. Specialized Child Study (Beginners and Primary 

age) 10 

2. Stories and Story Telling 10 

3. Beginners and Primary Methods, Including Prac- 
tice Teaching and Observation 20 

40 
Junior Units 

1. Specialized Child Study (Junior age) 10 

2. Christian Conduct for Juniors 10 

3. Junior Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Junior 

Department 10 

"40 
Intermediate, Senior and Young People's Units 

Separate for each department. 

1. Study of the Pupil 10 

2. Agencies of Religious Education 10 

3. Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Depart- 

ment 10 

40 

General Course on Adolescence 

Same subjects as above but covering the entire period, ages 
13-24, in each unit. 

Adult Units 

1 Psychology of Adult Life 10 

2. The Religious Education of Adults 10 

3. Principles of Christian Service 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Adult 

Department 10 

40 
Administrative Units 

1. Outline History of Religious Education 10 

2. The Educational Task of the Local Church 10 

3. The Curriculum of Religious Education 10 

4. Problems of Sunday School Management 10 

40 

Full information regarding any of these units will be 
furnished by denominational publishers on application. 



CONTENTS 
chapter page) 

Editor's Introduction 5 

I. Officers, Teachers and Children . 11 

II. The Room and Its Furnishings . . 24 

III. The Child in the Room .... 37 

IV. Materials of Religious Education . 47 
V. Building a Program 55 

VI. Worship and Prayer 68 

VII. Music 74 

VIII. Giving 84 

IX. The Use of Pictures 93 

X. The Lesson Period ....... 102 

XL Lesson Expression 116 

XII. The Child During the Week ... 128 

XIII. Records, Credlts and Recognition . 136 

XIV. Standards for Promotion .... 144 
XV. Planning for Special Days . . . 153 

XVI. Home Cooperation 160 

XVII. Plans for Conferences 166 

XVIII. Practice Work and Observation, I 173 

XIX. Practice Work and Observation, II 177 

XX. Practice Work and Observation, III 180 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Specialization Courses in Teacher Training 

In religious education, as in other fields of con- 
structive endeavor, specialized training is today a 
badge of fitness for service. Effective leadership 
presupposes special training. For teachers and ad- 
ministrative officers in the Church school a thor- 
ough preparation and proper personal equipment 
have become indispensable by reason of the rapid 
development of the Sunday-school curriculum, 
which has resulted in the widespread introduction 
and use of graded courses, in the rapid extension of 
departmental organization and in greatly improved 
methods of teaching. 

Present-day standards and courses in teacher 
training give evidence of a determination on the 
part of the religious educational forces of North 
America to provide an adequate training literature, 
that is, properly graded and sufficiently thorough 
courses and textbooks to meet the growing need for 
specialized training in this field. Popular as well as 
professional interest in the matter is reflected in the 
constantly increasing number of training institutes, 
community and summer training schools, and col- 
lege chairs and departments of religious education. 
Hundreds of thousands of young people and adults, 
distributed among all the Protestant Evangelical 
churches and throughout every state and province, 
are engaged in serious study, in many cases includ- 

5 



6 Introduction 

ing supervised practice teaching, with a view to 
preparing for service as leaders and teachers of re- 
ligion or of increasing their efficiency in the work in 
which they are already engaged. 

Most of these students and student teachers are 
pursuing some portion of the Standard Course of 
Teacher Training prepared in outline by the Sun- 
day School Council of Evangelical Denominations 
for all the Protestant churches in the United States 
and Canada. This course calls for a minimum of 
one hundred and twenty lesson periods including 
in fair educational proportion the following sub- 
jects: 

(a) A survey of Bible material, with special ref- 
erence to the teaching values of the Bible as 
meeting the needs of the pupil in successive 
periods of his development. 

(b) A study of the pupil in the varied stages of 
his growing life. 

(c) The work and methods of the teacher. 

(d) The Sunday school and its organization and 
management. 

The course is intended to cover three years with 
a minimum of forty lesson periods for each year. 

Following two years of more general study, pro- 
vision for specialization is made in the third year, 
with separate studies for Administrative Officers, 
and for teachers of each of the following age groups : 
Beginners (under 6) ; Primary (6-8) ; Junior (9-11) ; 
Intermediate (12-14) ; Senior (15-17); Young Peo- 
ple (18-24) and Adults (over 24). A general course 



Introduction 7 

on Adolescence covering more briefly the whole 
period (13-24) is also -provided. Thus the Third 
Year Specialization, of which this textbook is one 
unit, provides for nine separate courses of forty 
lesson periods each. 

Which of these nine courses is to be pursued by 
any student or group of students will be determined 
by the particular place each expects to fill as teacher, 
supervisor or administrative officer in the Church 
school. Teachers of Junior pupils will study the 
four units -devoted to the Junior Department. 
Teachers of young people's classes will choose be- 
tween the general course on Adolescence or the 
course on Later Adolescence. Superintendents and 
general officers in the school will study the four 
Administrative units. Many will pursue several 
courses in successive years, thus adding to their 
specialized equipment each year. On another page 
of this volume will be found a complete outline of 
the Specialization Courses arranged by depart- 
ments. 

A program of intensive training as complete as 
that outlined by the Sunday School Council neces- 
sarily involves the preparation and publication of 
an equally complete series of textbooks covering no 
less than thirty-six separate units. Comparatively 
few of the denominations represented in the Sunday 
School Council are able independently to undertake 
so large a program of textbook production. It was 
natural, therefore, that the denominations which 
together had determined the general outlines of the 
Standard Course should likewise cooperate in the 



8 Introduction 

production of the required textbooks. Such coop- 
eration, moreover, was necessary in order to com- 
mand the best available talent for this important 
task and in order to insure the success of the total 
enterprise, Thus it came about that the denomina- 
tions represented in the Sunday School Council, 
with a few exceptions, united in the syndicate pro- 
duction of the entire series of Specialization units 
for the Third Year. 

A little more than two years have been required 
for the selection of writers, for the careful advance 
coordination of their several tasks and for the ac- 
tual production of the first textbooks. A substantial 
number of these are now available. They will be 
followed in rapid succession by others until the en- 
tire series for each of the nine courses is completed. 

The preparation of these textbooks has proceeded 
under the supervision of an editorial committee rep- 
resenting all the cooperating denominations. The 
publishing arrangements have been made by a sim- 
ilar committee of denominational publishers like- 
wise representing all the cooperating churches. To- 
gether the Editors, Educational Secretaries and 
Publishers have organized themselves into a volun- 
tary association for the carrying out of this partic- 
ular task, under the name Teacher Training Pub- 
lishing Association. The actual publication of the 
separate textbook units is done by the various 
denominational Publishing Houses in accordance 
with assignments made by the Publishers' Commit- 
tee of the Association. The enterprise as a whole 
represents one of the largest and most significant 



Introduction 9 

ventures which has thus far been undertaken in the 
field of interdenominational cooperation in religious 
education. The textbooks included in this series, 
while intended primarily for teacher-training classes 
in local churches and Sunday schools, are admirably 
suited for use in interdenominational and commu- 
nity classes and training schools. 

This particular volume entitled Methods for Pri- 
mary Teachers, is one of three specialization units 
for the Primary and Beginner Departments. It 
presents, as its title indicates, approved methods for 
the Primary Department. It has grown out of the 
author's personal experience and wide observation 
and together with the other specialization units for 
the Primary Department will provide a compre- 
hensive and valuable training course for teachers 
and officers. 

The remaining units in the same Primary series 
are (1) Specialized Child Study; (2) Stories and 
Story-telling. 

For the Teacher Training Publishing Association, 
HENRY H. MEYER, 

Chairman Editorial Committee. 

MARION STEVENSON, 

Book Editor, The Front Rank Press. 



LESSON I 

OFFICERS, TEACHERS, AND CHILDREN 

Freedom and joy in work. — Most of us have come 
into connection with a Primary Department or 
class that has become fairly settled in its ways of 
working; it has a past and traditions; it is identified 
in our minds with certain persons and it is hard for 
us to think of it apart from the individuality of 
someone who preceded us in the work or with whom 
we are now working. It is right that the person- 
ality of the leader should be felt and honored, but 
we must see beyond it. 

Some of you who will study this course have 
never taught, and your eyes are turned to the fu- 
ture with questioning and no little uncertainty. 
Perhaps you have been in a Primary Department 
as a visitor, an inexperienced helper, or as a sub- 
stitute teacher. In any case your ideas of what you 
saw and heard were influenced to a great extent by 
existing conditions and the personality of those who 
did the work. Yet you must learn to see back of 
all these and to discern causes, reasons, and princi- 
ples. 

Whatever the future, near or far, may have for 
any of us, in this work, we must know why we have a 
Primary Department, and just what we are to accom- 
plish through it. The best methods or materials in the 
world are not safe in the hands of a teacher who 

11 



12 Methods for Primary Teachers 

does not know why they are best or why she is us- 
ing them. It matters not whether it falls to you to 
establish and organize a Primary Department where 
one has not been, or to work in one that has been 
in existence many years; the same clear understand- 
ing of fundamentals is necessary. 

It is this that makes the leader free — free to 
choose, to plan, to move about among the children 
as an older friend and guide, to whom they may 
turn with the assurance that they will be under- 
stood. It is this that gives joy to one's work, for 
a sense of satisfaction and pleasure comes through 
skill and through experiencing success. If teaching 
children seems a burden, it is probably because 
there is a consciousness of failure, or inadequacy. 
What we know how to do, we like to do. Of course, 
we may sometimes deceive ourselves and cry 
"Good !" when our work is very bad. But such a state 
does not last very long. It dies for lack of proper 
nourishment. 

The first principle. — Of one thing we may be very 
sure : the reason for every correct method, \vhether 
of organization or instruction, of every good piece 
of material — story, song, or picture — is to be found 
in some fact of child life. A certain way of work- 
ing is right because through it the children will 
grow and develop as God's children should. Why 
this is true and how it is done we must see and un- 
derstand. 

To begin with, why do we have a separate Pri- 
mary Department or class? Because it is more con- 
venient for the adults who are to do the work? Be- 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 13 

cause it is the generally approved thing to do? Cer- 
tainly not. It is because children in that period of 
life usually called middle childhood have many in- 
terests in common ; they have reached about the 
same degree of skill in what they do and they like 
to do the same things. They will develop best in 
an environment planned for them with their par- 
ticular ability and limitations in mind. No time 
need be lost in presenting things they cannot un- 
derstand or in trying to secure from them responses 
and action they are not able to give. Because of 
the small amount of time given to religious teach- 
ing, this last reason should carry weight with the 
leaders of children and with the church. For exam- 
ple, in a sixty or seventy-five minute program in 
which both worship and instruction must be pro- 
vided for, it is an unfortunate arrangement when 
the younger children must be grouped with those 
more mature and with adults for a part of the time. 
Under such circumstances they are invariably, and 
of necessity, called upon to enter into songs and 
other parts of the program for which they have 
neither physical nor spiritual capacity. 

To the Primary worker who has long enjoyed 
the privilege of service in a separate department, it 
may seen unnecessary to think of the reasons for 
the mere existence of such a department. But it is 
always best to be able to give a reason for the thing 
that you believe and feel is right. 

A department defined. — A Primary Department 
consists of a group of children about six, seven, 
and eight years of age with at least one adult leader. 



14 Methods for Primary Teachers 

If there are fewer than ten children, this one class 
with its teacher may be the Primary Department of 
that school. However, it should be said that in- 
vestigation has discovered very happy and success- 
ful Primary Departments with nine or ten children, 
two teachers, and a department superintendent. It 
is the spirit and not the numbers that really mat- 
ters. Whether there are six children, or sixty, or 
six hundred, the same careful attention should be 
given to the choice of methods, lessons, and other 
materials. Who knows but that one child in that 
little group may be a Livingstone or a Carey ! And 
every child is equally valuable in the Kingdom. 

The basis of grading. — There is a great differ- 
ence between the development of children who are 
six and have just entered school, and that of chil- 
dren eight years old who are beginning to read 
and who feel very mature and wise from the ex- 
alted heights of the third grade. Therefore it is 
best for the children in a Primary Department to 
be divided into groups or classes for instruction. 

The first Sunday in October is usually consid- 
ered the beginning of the school year, and at that 
time the first grade will consist of children who are 
six, or who will be during the six months follow- 
ing; the second grade of those who are seven or 
who will be during the next six months ; the third 
grade of those who are eight. 

How shall we determine in what class a child 
shall be placed when he comes into the Primary De- 
partment? Of course the majority of them come 
in from the Beginners' Department on Promotion 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 15 

Day and become the first-year class by virtue of 
that fact. But there are always exceptions to be 
dealt with — the children who enter the department 
during the year, perhaps coming from ungraded 
schools. 

No one has as yet discovered a scientific test by 
which we can measure the religious development 
of a child, give him a spiritual "rating", and place 
him in a class where that particular stage of moral 
and spiritual growth is being nurtured. It is true 
that there are certain standards of knowledge, con- 
sisting of religious ideas, facts, and materials, which 
we expect the children to attain in the Primary 
Department, but this is only one phase of religious 
development. 

The results for which we seek are to be found 
in conduct and in attitudes. These are expressed 
in life's relationships which are complex, even in 
the life of a six-year-old child. In fact, it seems 
that the number of years he has lived would de : 
termine in part the extent of his world, which has 
had an ever-widening horizon, since first he came 
in contact with the people in his home, his friends 
and playmates outside, and the vast number who 
touch his life in many ways. As he has become 
familiar with the world in which he lives his idea 
of God has grown too, and thus through experience 
he has developed certain capacities for knowing, 
feeling, and doing. 

In view of this it seems consistent that age, with 
certain modifications, shall be the basis for grading. 
Certainly, the public-school grade alone would not 



16 Methods for Primary Teachers 

be a satisfactory measure of religious growth and 
capacity. A child may be backward in public school 
subjects and yet possess spiritual ideas and atti- 
tudes quite equal to those of other children his own 
age. However, there are children who seem in 
every way advanced beyond other children of the 
same age. They are above grade in the public 
school and they play with children who are older; 
that is, they are accepted as playmates by these 
older children themselves. These facts affect in 
every way the world in which a child lives and in 
which he must express his religious life. 

In view of these things age modified by public- 
school grading upward, but not downward, seems a 
reasonable basis for grading in the Sunday school. 
For example, a seven-year-old child who is above 
grade in the public school may be placed in a class 
with eight-year-old children if it seems best from 
the standpoint of his daily associations and general 
development. But a child who is below grade in 
the public school should not be kept back in his 
religious instruction for that reason. 

Primary grades and classes. — If there are more 
than eight children in a grade, two classes should 
be formed, the ideal being to have classes of not 
more than six or eight children. There are three 
important reasons why classes in the Primary De- 
partment should be small. The first is. that oft- 
repeated one that we "are not teaching lessons, but 
children. " While six-year-old children have many 
interests and characteristics in common, they also 
have "personal variations" which must be consid- 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 17 

ered by the teacher who plans a lesson to meet their 
needs. In a class of six or eight children, each may 
have the personal attention and touch that should 
enter into religious nurture. It is true that the 
teacher in the public school has many more than 
ihis number in her class, but she also has many 
more hours in which to accomplish her task ; and the 
condition is an undesirable one even then. In the 
second place, our teachers and officers are nearly all 
busy women whose lives are filled with the duties of 
home, office, or schoolroom. They cannot become 
personally acquainted with a large number of chil- 
dren, but they can visit in the homes of a few. 
And we may be very sure that no one can be a 
real teacher of children unless she knows their par- 
ents and the conditions in home and neighborhood. 
In the third place, we need not fear that this small- 
class idea will interfere with the proper zeal for 
reaching all the children of the community, for a 
school or department grows by division and, under 
normal conditions, when a class of ten is divided 
into two classes each will increase. 

Upon what basis shall we subdivide the pupils 
in a grade into classes? Shall we (1) separate boys 
and girls? (2) group together the more advanced 
pupils within a grade ; (3) divide them according 
to temperament and behavior? Let us consider 
each plan. The separation of boys and girls in 
classes in the Primary Department is open to criti- 
cism. Such a plan would be anticipating any sex- 
consciousness on the part of these little boys and 
girls, by two or three years. They play together 



18 Methods for Primary Teachers 

in some neighborhoods and seem to enjoy the same 
games, although it is to be noticed that even as 
young as six or seven there is a difference in the 
attitude of boys and girls toward the games they 
play, the boys being more influenced by rules and 
the girls by personal opinions. It has been said 
that "the sex instinct begins to develop before eight 
years of age, and continues to grow in strength, 
though not continuously, up to maturity." 1 It is 
generally to be noticed that the "teasing" tendency 
begins at about seven or eight years of age, and that 
it is easier to teach either boys or girls in a sepa- 
rate class. In fact, sometimes during the first year 
at school, there seems to come an inclination in boys 
and girls to separate in their play. Girls go in for 
playhouses and paper dolls, boys for kites and mar- 
bles. 

As to the second basis of division suggested, it 
is doubtful if it would be best either for the very 
bright or the slow r -thinking pupils to be in a class 
made up entirely of pupils having that tendency. 
The question of temperament suggested in the third 
plan calls for very careful study of each individual 
child and of combinations in groups. Probably it is 
the most ideal plan of all, and yet the facts in- 
volved in the other two plans should not be ignored. 
A combination of all three may be used. Separate 
boys and girls when it seems best because of their 
interests and attitudes. Try to place each -child where 
he can have the best opportunity for spiritual 
growth. In all of this we must keep in mind the 



^■Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitl ly. 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 19 

fact that the children, regardless of age, sex, and 
temperament, are part of the department in which 
they worship together and have many shared activ- 
ities. The class should never be emphasized to the 
exclusion of department spirit. 

There are many combinations of grades and 
classes that may be made according to these prin- 
ciples and the number of children. Perhaps there 
will be a first-grade class comprising both boys and 
girls, a second-grade class of the same kind, a class 
for boys and another for girls in the third grade, 
and in another, where there are only a few pupils, a 
first-grade class and a combined second and third. 
(It is usually best to consider age differences before 
those of sex.) In a certain Primary Department of 
two hundred there are more than twenty classes, 
the boys and girls being in separate classes in the 
second and third grade. 

The heart of it is this : study the matter, think 
about each child personally, know why your chil- 
dren are grouped as they are. No "system" can 
grind out religious natures according to a rule of 
number. 

The department superintendent. — Where there 
are two or more classes there should be a Primary 
superintendent whose duties are as follows: (1) 
to help the teachers to work together so that each will 
contribute to the total results desired; (2) to conduct 
department conferences, at least monthly; (3) to plan 
and conduct the department program on Sunday ; 
(4) to secure the proper working materials for depart- 
ment and classes; (5) to lead in securing the best pos- 



20 Methods for Primary Teachers 

sible conditions of room and equipment; (6) to inves- 
tigate special cases of absence; (7) to help solve un- 
usual problems of discipline; (8) to seek ways of 
bringing about home cooperation; (9) to supervise the 
placing of new pupils in their grades or classes, and 
the promotion of pupils from grade to grade from 
the department. All of these matters are discussed 
further in the other lessons in this course; but it 
will be well to note here that all matters entering 
into the organization and management of the de- 
partment must come under the supervision of the 
department superintendent. For example, in item 
3 of the preceding list of duties will be included all 
special matters that sometimes come into the pro- 
gram. Missionary and temperance instruction must 
be made a part of the whole program, not given 
by someone from a committee outside the depart- 
ment, who may be zealous and well informed in 
their special work, but cannot be in a position to 
fit the subject matter into the program and lessons 
of a department in which they are not at work. 
Such special instruction must be supervised by the 
department superintendent and be given by some- 
one within the department. Even announcements 
come under this principle, and most certainly no 
visitor, no matter how intelligent in appearance, 
will be asked to "say a few words" unless the de- 
partment superintendent is very sure that what he 
will say is suitable to the occasion and the children. 
All of this does not make the department super- 
intendent an autocrat. Tact, with a sincere and 
kindly spirit, will make such a thing impossible. 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 21 

Besides, the principles upon which she acts will be 
shared by the other officers and teachers in con- 
ference, and she will be carrying out their ideals 
quite as much as her own. 

The department secretary. — This officer should 
be a person who likes to deal with things and can 
see their significance, who has an orderly manner 
and is not conspicuous in her ways of working. 
Her duties are to (1) look after the enrollment of 
new pupils ; (2) keep the entire enrollment accurate 
and up to date (a card file is best for this purpose) ; 
(3) cooperate with the general secretary of the 
whole school by furnishing duplicate enrollment 
cards of all pupils in the department, and a weekly 
report; (4) assist in keeping the class books or 
grade cards in order for the teachers; (5) keep the 
class papers, handwork materials, and similar things 
in order; (6) protect the department from inter- 
ruptions; (7) make a monthly report of enrollment, 
attendance and absences. If the department is 
large, certain of these duties may be assigned to 
assistants, especially items 5 and 6. 

Other officers. — A pianist, assistant superintend- 
ent, and other officers may be added if the circum- 
stances and size of the department make it neces- 
sary. Each one must be in sympathy with the work 
of the department and understand clearly what she 
is to do. This can only come through conference 
and definite instructions from the department su- 
perintendent. 

Teachers. — We cannot describe the qualifications 



22 Methods for Primary Teachers 

of a primary teacher in better terms than are given 
in the Standard for a Primary Department : 

Teachers qualified by nature, training and reli- 
gious experience ; that is, teachers who 

1. Possess a sympathetic understanding of child 
life. 

2. Have a personality attractive and helpful to 
children. 

3. Seek frequent contact with children in their 
home, school, and play life. 

4. Are graduates or students in a teacher-training 
course, community training school, or in a school 
of principles and methods. 

5. Are continuing their specialized training in a 
graded union, or by the reading of at least one spe- 
cialization book a year. 

6. Lead a sincere Christian life. 

It is a privilege to touch the life of a child even 
in a slight way. To be a teacher of children is a 
challenge to be and to do one's best. To be a 
teacher of religion in the realm of childhood is the 
highest privilege that can come to anyone. 

Questions 

1. What attitude should the worker among chil- 
dren have toward her work? How may this be cul- 
tivated? 

2. What is necessary in the choice and use of 
materials ? 

3. Why have a Primary Department? 

4. Describe the organization of a department of 
fifteen pupils ; of fifty ; of one hundred. In each 
case give the basis for grading, for subdividing into 



Officers, Teachers, and Children 23 

classes, and your reasons. Make the outline on pa- 
per and be prepared to explain it as you would to 
a father or mother unfamiliar with Primary work. 

5. What are the duties of the Primary superin- 
tendent? 

6. What are the duties of the secretary? 

7. What other officers may be necessary and 
what is essential for them? 

8. What are the qualifications of a Primary 
teacher? Do you think that any of these are im- 
possible or unnecessary? 



LESSON II 

THE ROOM AND ITS FURNISHINGS 

Conditions of work. — Two lines of action are 
open to nearly every group of Primary teachers : 
first, to make the best, in every sense, of the con- 
ditions in which they are placed, and, second, to 
work patiently but aggressively for the improve- 
ment or change of those conditions, if in any way 
they are not good. Of course there are a few who 
have no need to think of the latter responsibility, 
for they work in ideal conditions ; but their number 
is small indeed, and quite often the first line of ac- 
tion holds untouched possibilities for them, for they 
may not yet make the best use of what they have. 

In a very real and practical way the attitude of 
a church toward the children who come within its 
doors is expressed in the sort of place it provides 
for them. The children feel this, although they 
could not express it. Then, too, the room and 
equipment are the embodiment of the value placed 
upon the things taught there. A child does not say 
it in words, but he feels none the less strongly: "In 
day school there are good seats, and blackboards 
and things to work with, for arithmetic and reading 
are important and must be done just right. In Sun- 
day school it is dark and not so clean, and some of 
the chairs are broken. What you do there does not 
matter so much/' 

24 



The Room and its Furnishings 25 

Religion should be taught under the most whole- 
some and beautiful conditions. No church has a 
right to say to the children, "Worship the Lord 
in the beauty of holiness/' unless an environment 
favorable to worship is provided for them. Chil- 
dren learn quite as much from their surroundings 
and the ideals of which those surroundings are a 
reflection as they do from the things that are said 
and done. 

But when we say "the church" what do we mean? 
We are a part of the church, appointed to carry 
on some of the specialized work of the church, a 
very delightful part : the teaching of the children. 
There should be no "they" and "we" in speaking of 
the duty of the church toward this work. Let us 
know clearly and definitely what conditions are de- 
sirable, and why. Then let us, persistently and in 
the right spirit, work with our fellow members of 
the church to bring these about. Many of the peo- 
ple of the church, especially fathers and mothers 
(and grandparents), will be sympathetic with these 
ideals and ready to help. We must create senti- 
ment and stimulate activity in the directions needed. 
Too often the unfavorable conditions are due to a 
lack of definiteness on the part of the leader of chil- 
dren, and of saying "the right thing to the right 
people at the right time." 

The ideal. — "An environment which inspires or- 
der and reverence, and is conducive to worship and 
work," is the ideal toward which we must move. 
What are the things that will cause a child to wish 
to speak to God, and to work with friends and 



26 Methods for Primary Teachers 

teachers in learning and doing God's will? The 
"things" we choose must be tested by this ideal. 

The room. — It should be on the first or second 
floor, never even partially below the street level and 
easily accessible to a street entrance. The accepted 
and accustomed practice on the part of some archi- 
tects and church-building committees to settle the 
matter by saying " — and rooms in the basement for 
the children" has wrought great harm to the reli- 
gious ideals of children. There are times when the 
only place in the building for a separate department 
is in a basement room which has been made as favor- 
able as possible through light walls and a good 
floor. But even then the condition should be looked 
upon as a compromise and a matter to be changed 
as soon as possible. 

The department room should not immediately 
join any other room, but there should be a passage 
way or double walls. When it is absolutely neces- 
sary to have rooms adjoining, sound-proof parti- 
tions should be provided. 

The room should have sunlight and plenty of 
fresh air. An outlook upon God's great outdoor 
world helps to vitalize and relate some of the ideas 
and attitudes that are to be cultivated in this place 
set aside for the children's worship and study. In 
one primary room, on the second floor, the windows 
looked out into the upper branches of two trees that 
stood between the church and the street. The leaves 
in summertime, making flecks of shadow and sun- 
light, the brown branches in winter, and the buds in 
the spring, were pictures more effective than paint- 



The Room and its Furnishings 27 

ings and prints. This, of course, implies clear glass 
windows. Simple, straight side curtains of white may 
be used with these. If the outlook is not favorable, 
prism glass may be used, as this has the quality of 
projecting into the room whatever light falls upon 
the window and of making sunlight "go farther." 
Upon this sort of glass may be pasted cut-out bird 
and flower designs and simple transparencies. Plans 
for making and using these may be found through 
the art department of the public schools or through 
school supply houses. Tall, stately windows with 
good stained-glass will give a churchly appearance 
to a room and, if the room is large enough and the 
general arrangements appropriate, they tend to 
stimulate a reverent attitude. 

The size of the room should take into account 
the present enrollment of the department, and the 
possibilities of growth. There should be fifteen 
square feet of space allowed for each pupil, which 
means that a room planned for fifty children should 
be 25 x 30 feet in size ; for seventy-five, 30 x 40 
feet ; for one hundred 40 x 40 feet. The question of 
arrangement for assembly as a department and sep- 
aration into classes may be solved in several ways. 
The first essential is an open space, approximately 
square, in which the department program of wor- 
ship may take place. Other adjustments and use of 
space are numerous, some of which may be listed 
as follows: (1) rooms adjoining this large room, 
for classes, the size varying to allow for the occa- 
sional placing of a large class or combined group 
for any special reason ; (2) folding partitions divid- 



28 Methods for Primary Teachers 

ing this large room into three parts, each having 
one or more windows, and in which the three grades 
may be subdivided into small classes for teaching; 
(3) screens or movable partitions for the separation 
of classes, provided these do not shut off light and 
air or give the room a crowded or cluttered appear- 
ance; (4) when no separation seems advisable, the 
room may be arranged for two seatings, one for as- 
sembly and, in another part of the room, groups 
around tables for class work; (5) in more limited 
space there may be only one seating, the chairs 
placed in rows behind the class tables, and facing 
the front, for assembly; and drawn around the ta- 
bles for class work. In all of this planning and ar- 
rangement one principle will be observed, that of 
adjustability. The program of the department must 
not be hindered by the size, location, or arrangement 
of the physical conditions. 

Arrangement and furnishings. — Two things, of 
course, will be permanent and will affect the seat- 
ing : the light and entrance door. The children should 
not face either of these. Near the door should be 
the secretary's desk and the cupboard for supplies, 
so that the necessary going to and from these places 
will not intrude upon any part of the children's 
worship or work. The cupboard may be built and 
should include a place for objects used in connec- 
tion with the teaching, and within sight and reach 
of the children ; shelves with solid doors, for papers 
and working materials, deep files for pictures ; space 
for class boxes, which should be uniform in size 



The Room and its Furnishings 29 

and color, and labeled (letter file boxes may be 
used). 

The front of the room should have careful con- 
sideration, for much of the time it will be within the 
focus of the children's attention and exerts a greater 
influence than we realize. There should be a table 
for the use of the superintendent. This should 
never have a great many things upon it; it should 
be the epitome of beauty and order which prevails 
in the room. A white cover, or other suitable cov- 
ering, a flower or plant, a Bible, and the offering 
baskets are quite enough. There should be a good 
blackboard, movable, to make the room arrangement 
more adjustable. A piano that is kept perfectly in 
tune should be so placed that the accompanist and 
superintendent can see each other's faces. Since 
only a part of the children can read, song books, 
of course, will not be needed. Nearly all of the 
songs can be learned, but it may be well to have 
some of them written large on sheets of heavy 
cream colored paper. The writing should be done 
with a heavy pencil and be in the form of script 
with which the children are familiar; that is, the 
kind used in the day-schools especially by the 
teachers in blackboard work. These large sheets 
may be reenforced by folding over the top edge an 
inch and pasting this down, punching holes in the 
edge and strengthening these by gummed cloth eye- 
lets. They may be hung on hooks placed on the 
molding or in a rack similar to a blackboard rack, 
which may be set out of the way when not in use. 

One of the matters that often is given improper 



30 Methods for Primary Teachers 

attention, and interferes with the best work of the 
department, is that of the children's wraps. The 
children cannot give full attention to the worship 
and work with coats, hats, or overshoes on, and it 
is obvious that they are causes of colds and discom- 
fort. The short time the children are there makes 
it all the more necessary to have every condition 
right. Then, too, it is nearly always the "best 
clothes'' that are worn to Sunday school, and these 
cherished garments fill a large part of the conscious- 
ness of the children. If the wraps are improperly 
cared for, seven-year-old Elizabeth is quite likely to 
be thinking more about the welfare of her hat than 
of just what those strange messengers said to Abra- 
ham, in the story. Various places may be provided 
for the wraps : (1) an adjoining cloakroom is ideal ; 
(2) low, movable racks or costumers, in the latter 
case one provided for each class, to be moved out 
of the way during the session and distributed again 
at the close, have many advantages over any other 
plan ; (3) a low shelf, with hooks underneath, cur- 
tains in front, the top to be used for pictures, ob- 
jects, or flowers. An unsightly row of hooks along 
the wall will be very likely to mar the appearance 
of the room and to make it impossible to have any 
variety in the arrangement. 

If the room is to T)e "conducive to work," it must 
have a "doing" appearance. It has been said that in 
the past, school equipment has been chosen from a 
"listening" standpoint. Surely, the same can be 
said of nearly all churches. But "being good" and 
"sitting still" are not at all the same, and there is 



The Room and its Furnishings 31 

much to be done, even in "just learning things." 
The chairs should be about fourteen inches high 
and have backs that do not encourage a stooped or 
slumped position in sitting. The design known as 
the Mosher chair is typical of the right kind. For 
the department assembly, chairs of one height may 
be used, since this makes for a more orderly ar- 
rangement, and all children seem to prefer the 
larger chairs when more than one size is available. 
This latter fact is onlv an evidence of the almost 
universal child desire to appear as grown-up as pos- 
sible. Moreover, children in the same grade vary 
greatly in size. However, for class work, the chairs 
should range in height from twelve inches for the 
first grade, to sixteen inches for the third grade. If 
the same chairs must be used for both assembly and 
class, the three sizes should be provided. The 
tables for classes should permit teacher and pupils 
to be near each other and yet have freedom for 
work. The half-hexagon shape is excellent for 
those purposes, and should be about ten inches 
higher than the chairs used with them. 

Decoration. — Harmonv and "artistic restraint" 
are the key words here. If possible, the woodwork, 
including cupboards, tables, and chairs, should be fin- 
ished in the same stain or in shades that blend. 
Walls finished in a warm bufif color, with a lighter 
ceiling, a dado of light brown burlap, from the floor 
to a height of fifty inches, woodwork and furniture 
in a soft brown, a clean waxed floor, make a combi- 
nation of brown, tan and cream that is very harmon- 
ious. But bright colors must be added through 



32 Methods for Primary Teachers 

seasonal decorations, flowers or artistically colored 
pictures. Sometimes it is to be wondered if the 
brown and gray tones so pleasing to the average 
adult eye are not a little depressing to the children. 
In a small church in Ohio there was quite a re- 
markable Primary room. The walls were the soft 
yellow of sunshine, the curtains at the win- 
dows like fleecy clouds, the carpet of green 
like the grass. The tables and woodwork were 
a deep cream color, and the chairs were (despised 
shade) red ! The children were so happy and 
entered into the room and session with such evident 
sincerity ! The plain little woman who had planned 
the room and was its guiding spirit said that she 
had "just tried to match the colors that the Lord 
put together/' But having plenty of color does not 
mean mere brightness. There m ; ust be great care 
and discrimination. Probably the safest plan for 
most of us will be the brown and tan backgrounds, 
with brightness added according to the season and 
occasion. Certainly, the all-prevailing red chairs 
should be changed to those with a brown or other 
dark finish, since the red are not once in a hundred 
times suitable to the rest of the furnishings and 
decorations. Such a decided color also makes it 
impossible to change the decorative scheme. 

There should be at least one large, well-framed 
picture, placed where it may enter fully into the 
consciousness of the children. The familiar "Jesus 
Blessing Little Children" (Plockhorst) is much 
loved by Primary children. If it is tinted in water 
colors, and framed in gold, it seems to have a setting 



The Room and its Furnishings 33 

appropriate to the occasion pictured. A group of 
children were given several small prints from which 
to choose the one they would like, in larger form, 
for their department room. Almost immediately, 
and with one accord, they chose "The Boy Jesus at 
Nazareth" by LaFont, a copy of a picture which is 
in a church at Nazareth. It was difficult to secure 
an enlargement and to have it properly tinted, but 
the effort was well worth while because of the re- 
sponse of the children to this very simple and nat- 
ural picture of "Jesus when he was a child like us." 

There should be a flag (ah ! there is color) on a 
standard. Seasonal decorations may be used each 
month. For example, in May there are blue 
birds (cut from paper) at intervals on the burlap 
dado, on the windows and in corners of the room. 
Beware of too much ! Nothing can be worse than a 
room crowded with pictures and paper things, and 
dust! 

Above all, this room must not be too fine for chil- 
dren's fingers to touch or to help in arranging. A 
room that is perfect from a cultured adult stand- 
point is likely to be meaningless to a child. 

Adaptations. — Are these ideals and standards dis- 
couraging? They should not be. An ideal is some- 
thing we are working toward. A standard is some- 
thing by which w r e may measure our progress. The 
seriousness of any condition is not in falling short 
but in failing to make progress. 

Let us think of some of the adaptations that w r e 
must make in order to bring these ideals and the 
existing conditions as nearly into harmony as we 



34 Methods for Primary Teachers 



• 



can. Sometimes there are unsightly objects in the 
room : furnace pipes, a sewing machine, even a 
kitchen stove and sink! These need not hinder the 
walls and ceiling being given a clean, harmonious 
appearance. The pipes can be painted and the other 
objects hidden by burlap-covered screens, upon 
which pictures may be placed. But be very sure 
that the material used for the hiding of those other 
things is not ugly itself. Untidy curtains of gaudy 
material are no better than the objects they are de- 
signed to hide. 

Sometimes the Primary room must be shared 
with other organizations — the young people's so- 
ciety, the Aid Society — or used for social meetings. 
An agreement must be reached by the leaders of 
these other agencies together with the Primary su- 
perintendent, so that the pennants, wall posters, and 
decorations used by each shall be out of the way 
when any of the others are using the room. The 
temporary decorations and unframed pictures of the 
Primary Department should be taken down and put 
away each week, anyway. 

If the Beginners' and Primary Departments must 
use the same room, provision must be made for the 
larger circle of the Beginners, shelves for their sup- 
plies, the racks for their wraps, and the many ad- 
justments that must be made for four and five- 
year-old children. Sometimes there is no room at 
all, just a corner in the church room. Even then 
there may be a little space at the back or side of the 
room cleared for the small chairs, a burlap screen 



The Room and its Furnishings 35 

for seclusion and as a background for pictures, a 
small cupboard or box for supplies. 

No time is lost in thinking and planning toward 
an ideal. Only then do we know how to meet the 
emergencies in which we find ourselves. Only then 
are we able to use each opportunity for improve- 
ment as it comes to us. 

Questions 

1. What is the relation of the Primary teachers to 
the room in which they work and to the church? 

2. What is a child's attitude toward his environ- 
ment? 

3. Describe a Primary room in terms of ideals. 

4. Plan (on paper) a room and furnishings, giving 
measurements, location of entrances and windows, 
and of all permanent equipment. State the number of 
pupils in the department, and indicate the seating ar- 
rangements for assembly and class. Describe the 
color scheme. Do this upon the basis outlined in the 
lesson, taking into account any of the situations de- 
scribed in it, together with any in actual experience 
with which you are familiar. 

Assignment for Observation 

Prepare for the observation work by copying the 
list of items given below, in a notebook or on sheets 
of paper, allowing space for filling in the answers. 
Do not take this notebook or list with you. Read 
again the two lessons you have studied, then go into 
a Primary Department at least fifteen minutes before 
the time for opening and observe carefully and 
thoughtfully the entire session. When you go home 
write answers to the following points : 



36 Methods for Primary Teachers 

1. The number of children. 

2. The division into grades and classes and the 
number of children in each class. 

3. Any children that you think are in the wrong 
class and why you think so. 

4. Behavior of boys and girls toward each other. 

5. What officers there were and their apparent du- 
ties. 

6. Size of the room (estimate) and where located, 
giving the floor, accessibility from the street, nearness 
to other departments. 

7. Conditions as to light, sunshine, ventilation, and 
cleanliness. (Answer each one specifically.) 

8. Place for the children's wraps. 

9. Location of the secretary's desk and supply cup- 
board; any confusion in connection with these. 

10. Equipment in the front of the room, for the 
superintendent; the use made of the various things. 

11. The arrangement of the room for department 
assembly and for class work, describing chairs, tables, 
and the placing of these. 

12. The decoration of the room, giving color and 
artistic effect. 



LESSON III 

THE CHILD IN THE ROOM 

His relation to his surroundings. — The most 
important part of a child's surroundings consists of 
the personalities that are in it — other children and 
the adults who come within his "world." But 
things are as real as persons to a child. His "world" 
is that of which he is aware, both persons and 
things. Careful observation will show that children 
see many things of which adults are unaware, and 
fail to see many others that, from our more mature 
point of view, seem important. The reason for the 
first fact lies in the children's interests; they see 
things which they can use in their thought, play, 
and work. The reason for the second fact is that 
"children lack in definiteness and in detail of sense 
perceptions/' 1 that is, in their hearing, seeing and 
contact with objects. This in turn is due to the lack 
of experience through which they can make com- 
parisons and contrasts. This has led to the state- 
ment by G. Stanley Hall, that "we need to converse 
with children about the commonest things." 

What, then, do we wish the attitude of the chil- 
dren to be, toward the place in which they meet for 
worship and instruction? Probably reverence is the 
first thing which will come to our minds, because it 
is most often associated with religious places and 



"^Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 

37 



38 Methods for Primary Teachers 

objects. But reverence grows out of awe, respect, 
and love. It cannot be placed upon an individual, 
it must come from within ; but the environment 
must stimulate and develop it. Therefore the con- 
ditions discussed in the preceding lessons are es- 
sential to it. Sometimes the surroundings are not 
worthy of a reverent attitude on the part of the chil- 
dren, to say nothing of their unworthiness of the 
thing for which they stand — religious education. 
Two things will call forth a reverent attitude ; 
namely, surroundings that are worthy of it, and the 
example of teachers and officers. 

To a grown person quiet and solemnity are 
always associated with reverence. May not joy be 
an element also? Should not a child be happy in 
coming to the house of God, as he is when he goes 
to the home of a dear friend, or of his grandmother? 
We must be able to distinguish between repression 
and that comfortable state we choose to call order. 

If a child loves the room to which he comes on 
Sunday morning, he will wish to touch and handle 
many of the things he finds there. His pleasure will 
not be expressed through an impersonal feeling of 
satisfaction or enjoyment. He should have a sense 
of possession, for the room, after all, belongs to the 
children. They will be much more likely to feel this 
if they can share in the arrangement and decoration 
of the room. The child who brings a picture or a 
flower, who carries the birthday bank from the 
cupboard to the table, who shares in any way in 
making the room beautiful or orderly, enters into 



The Child in the Room 39 

a more personal relationship through that act. It 
deepens also his desire to make and keep the room 
beautiful. 

Through contrast and observation he also comes 
to understand the significance of the things in his 
environment. As he sees the superintendent or 
teacher placing the Bible upon the table in the front 
of the room, handling it reverently ; as he himself is 
perhaps given the special privilege of looking at the 
pictures in it, he comes to have respect and rever- 
ence for it, and to look forward to the time when he 
will have a copy of his own. 

In a large church some of the children in the Pri- 
mary Department do not come in contact with 
other parts of the church building except when there 
is a general assembly of the school for some special 
occasion. At some time during the year the chil- 
dren should go into the church auditorium either 
when it is not in use, or for a part of the church 
service, in order that they may come to associate in 
their minds the Primary room, which is so familiar 
to them, with the entire church building, a place set 
aside for the worship of God. 

Taking everything into account, we desire that 
the children shall be reverent and joyous in this 
room provided for them in the church, that they 
shall share in making it beautiful and have a sense 
of possession, that they shall think of it as a part 
of the house of God. 

His attitude toward teachers and officers. — Can 
you remember certain persons whom you as a 
child, loved and with whom you were content to 



40 Methods for Primary Teachers 

spend many hours? What was the cause of your 
attitude? Was it because they allowed you to do 
anything you wished to do, or because they could 
think of such interesting things to do? Was it be- 
cause they did things for you, or with you? Chil- 
dren respond to adults in whom they have confi- 
dence, feeling that the affairs of the world in which 
they live are safe in the hands of these grown-ups ; 
that they will be fairly and honestly dealt with, that 
when they have need of help or suggestion these 
older friends will "find a way." 

Moreover, a child's morality is bound up in his 
relations with the adults who have authority over 
him. He judges whether an act is right or wrong 
according to the results that he can see or feel. He 
has found that his happiness and well-being depend 
upon the approval of the adults who figure in his 
affairs. Therefore he desires this approval and will 
endeavor to act in a way that secures it, and thus 
avoid disapproval. "As the child enters the school 
world the opinion of the teacher becomes of vast 
importance -**.** the personal approval of 
the teacher for good work is a legitimate appeal for 
children of primary school age ; * * * * to draw 
a child's interest from personal approval to gaining 
approval for his group, and later to the approval of 
his own conscience; to develop a child's moral sense 
* * * — this is the responsibility of the educator." 1 

Because of the conditions set forth in the two pre- 
ceding paragraphs, it is clear that certain things 



Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



The Child in the Room 41 

face the teacher of children. To be able to enter 
into their interests so that they will spontaneously 
turn to her for suggestion and help, to be worthy 
of their complete confidence in her ability, to be so 
fair and just in the giving and withholding of her 
approval that the children will think it worth while 
to merit it — these are the things that make for good 
behavior on the child's part and real authority on 
the part of the teacher. 

His attitude toward other children. — What are 
a child's personal rights in the Primary room, and 
when do these touch the rights of other children? 
How much freedom may each individual child have 
without interfering with the freedom of others? 
Let us answer these questions in actual practice. 
James arrives fifteen minutes before time for the 
session. He likes to play (with two fingers !) upon 
the piano. Mary is another early pupil and wishes 
to spend the time until the opening program in pur- 
poseless writing and drawing on the blackboard. 
Of course the real solution would be to provide the 
right sort of things for the children to do before the 
session, as will be discussed in a later lesson. But, 
even then, some children prefer special, individual 
privileges ; and, if they are indulged in them, others 
will wish for or demand the same right. Upon what 
grounds shall we explain restrictions upon doing 
just as one pleases? 

A child's sense of fairness will respond to a 
friendly, courteous statement that "If you do this, 
the others may too, and there are not enough black- 
boards and pianos for all ; besides, the blackboard 



42 Methods for Primary Teachers 

is for the verses and songs that all of us use, and 
the piano is to use for our singing/' 

This, of course, does not preclude the directed use 
of the blackboard by children, or getting around the 
piano to sing before the session, as will be sug- 
gested in Chapter V. 

There is the matter of sharing working materials 
such as paper, pencils, paste, scrapbooks, objects, 
and pictures ; of giving up to the new pupil or the 
stranger, all of which give opportunity for training 
in friendly behavior. There is a tendency toward 
teasing, on the part of the boys with sometimes a 
mingling of unkindness that causes unhappiness. 
There is the inclination on the part of the girls to 
"snub" the child who is unattractive in appearance, 
or to taunt the child who is peculiar in any way. 
All of these situations may be controlled and 
changed by the teacher who gives her approval to 
real worth, and withholds it from unkind or snob- 
bish behavior. 

There are also children who are lacking in self- 
control, who speak quickly without regard for ac- 
curacy or results, who strike if their personal wishes 
are crossed by other children or the teacher. Dis- 
approval will be felt, but sometimes an emergency 
must be met by removing the child from the assem- 
bly or class until he has time to regain his balance 
and to realize that his place among other children 
depends upon his sometimes giving up his own 
wish. Usually such a child is nervous and has an 
unfavorable home environment ; he deserves kind- 
ness and understanding in God's house. 



The Child in the Room 43 

Another condition which arises in the Primary 
Department frequently is the "showing-off" ten- 
dency. It usually develops in the second grade 
and is an evidence of the growing desire for the ap- 
proval of other children. It is part of a child's de- 
veloping social conscience, but it is none the less 
painful because of this explanation. The "treat- 
ment" may consist in ignoring it, showing disap- 
proval or in temporary removal from the assembly 
or class. Too much attention to it is likely to place 
a premium upon it in the eyes of other children. It 
is so daring to be bad enough to be even mildly 
punished ! 

We are teaching lessons of kindness, forgiveness, 
cooperation ; of behavior that will show our love to 
our heavenly Father and his other children. But 
these are not matters of a text-book or a quarterly. 
They must be lived. Therefore they can best be 
taught in connection with actual experiences. Not 
all of these experiences can be included within the 
walls and organization of the Primary Department ; 
many of them are found in a child's daily life. But 
there are some situations in every department every 
Sunday which offer opportunity for the best kind 
of teaching. They are varied, as can be seen from 
even this brief setting forth of them ; but they can 
be summed up in a few general classifications: free- 
dom for each child, a growing respect for the rights 
of others, increasing power of self-control, learn- 
ing to give up one's personal w r ishes for the good 
of all, kindness toward other children, obedience to 
fair and just authority, reverence for God's house. 



44 Methods for Primary Teachers 

The teachers' attitude toward the children. — It 
has been impossible to discuss the children's re- 
lationship within the Primary room without con- 
sidering the attitude of the teachers. In a real 
school of any kind the two are interwoven in 
friendly, helpful contact. 

The teacher must be able to sense situations, to 
see the real motives and causes. She must know the 
child who should have attention, perhaps the rather 
unattractive child with the lofty air of indifference 
or with the scowl that is one evidence of self-con- 
sciousness. Such a child may be very sensitive and 
long for a friendly smile or word directed to him 
personally. Then there is the child who needs to be 
ignored ; he (and likewise she !) has a tendency to- 
ward that state which the children themselves call 
"smarty." If we appear not to see it, and will 
direct this nervous energy into other channels, many 
unpleasant situations may be saved. There is also the 
extremely affectionate child, who wishes continually to 
hang upon the teacher's arm, who always ''saves a 
seat for teacher" right beside herself (for usually 
this child is a girl). Such an attitude has more of 
selfishness than love in it, and springs from a desire 
to have a larger part of the teacher's attention than 
the other children. Such a child must see that love 
is shown through service, by being given tasks to 
perform for the teacher, sometimes being sent to sit 
by a new pupil or a visitor. And we must not for- 
get the children who come within none of these 
classifications, who are neither particularly bright, 
nor bad, nor anything. Sometimes we scarcely see 



The Child in the Room 45 

them at all. One ordinary little boy went home one 
Sunday and announced to his mother, "Some day 
I'm going to do something bad as I can in Sunday 
school so Miss Brown will give me special things 
to do to keep me busy/' 

In brief, every child has his own combination of 
characteristics, which we must be able to discern. 
Our attitude toward the children must grow out of 
a real knowledge of them. We must meet them 
with suggestion, help, direction, authority that is 
fair and just, and with respect for their understand- 
ing. We must not lose ourselves in materials and 
programs so that we cannot see children. 

Questions 

1. What physical and mental facts control a child's 
understanding of his surroundings? 

2. What feelings enter into reverence and what con- 
ditions are favorable to it? 

3. How will touch, observation, and sharing in the 
care of the room help a child to appreciate the things 
in his surroundings? Give examples. 

4. What should be the attitude of the children to- 
ward the church building? 

5. What characteristics in the teacher will win the 
confidence of the children? 

6. How is the morality of a child affected by his 
attitude toward his teachers and by their attitude to- 
ward him ? 

7. How may the problems of personal freedom and 
the good of the whole group be adjusted? 

8. What opportunities are found in the Primary 
room and session for teaching through experience the 
lessons of sharing, kindness, self-control, obedience? 






46 Methods for Primary Teachers 

9. Describe the indifferent, conspicuous, overaffec- 
tionate, commonplace children and the attitude of the 
teacher toward them. 

Problems for Discussion 

1. Should children "sit down and keep still" when 
they come to the Primary room before the hour of be- 
ginning ? 

2. How would you go about helping the children in 
a Primary Department to love the room and the things 
in it? Be specific in these plans. 

3. How would you deal with a nervous child who 
seemed unable to sit still for even a short time, who 
distracted the attention of other children and had a 
tendency toward "tantrums"? 



LESSON IV 

MATERIALS OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

What is included. — Everything that affects a 
child's life is part of his religious education. His 
days may be divided to a nicety between home, 
public school, play, and church, but his religion is 
something that enters into all four. In turn, the 
ideas he gains through all of these affects his re- 
ligion. A bird-note, the flaming colors of autumn, 
the great river, the games he plays, may be truly a 
part of his religious education. Whenever we talk 
of materials in the narrower sense of the word we 
must not forget this other great, inclusive fact. 

When we consider the conscious, planned, reli- 
gious instruction carried on in the Primary Depart- 
ment on Sunday we must remember that the pic- 
tures, the equipment, the general conditions in the 
room, the songs, and other things in the program, 
are all parts of the materials we use, as well as the 
course of study, to which we will give particular at- 
tention in this lesson. 

The most important development in religious ed- 
ucation during recent years has been the adoption 
of Graded Lessons and their widespread use. Be- 
fore w r e go further in a study of them let us pause 
to do the thing that we so often neglect in our rush 
to keep up with the march of progress ; that is, to 
pay tribute to those women, our mothers in the 

47 



48 Methods for Primary Teachers 

faith and in the flesh, who longed, prayed, and 
worked for lessons suited to the understanding and 
needs of children. It was they who taught so faith- 
fully the "infant class" and opened the way for bet- 
ter things. The very best we can do is to under- 
stand thoroughly this inheritance that is ours, to 
keep the lamp burnished and alight, and to pass it 
on brighter than when it came to us. 

The broad scope of the plan. — The point at which 
we first touch the Course of Study is usually "next 
Sunday's lesson. " But that individual lesson will 
mean little to us unless we see it as part of a whole 
plan. In the International Graded Series, the les- 
sons are grouped under themes which are topical 
and stated in terms of a child's religious ideas and 
experiences, although they are for the guidance of 
the teachers and not for the pupils. For example, 
you will find the lesson : "Joseph's Kindness to His 
Brothers," "Joseph's Care of His Father," "A 
Hungry Woman Sharing Her Bread," and other 
similar stories under the theme "Pleasing God by 
Right Doing," 1 and the fact that they are under that 
theme defines, in a general way, the point of view 
from which the teacher will use these stories. In 
other words, the story of Joseph sending for Jacob 
to live in Egypt is not included as an historical in- 
cident but as a story of a son who loved and cared 
for his father. Facts are not used for their own 
sake but to picture spiritual attitudes and to repro- 
duce them in others. The "lesson" is not the pas- 
sage of Scripture or the story it contains, but the 



x First Year Primary International Graded Series. 



Materials of Religious Education 49 

ever living truth of love shown through kindness. 
Therefore a leader must see a lesson in its relation 
to other lessons and as part of a theme. 

A connection will also be found between the 
themes, each one building* upon those that have 
gone before and preparing for others that are to fol- 
low. This can be seen in the case of "Jesus Loving 
and Receiving Love," "Jesus Using His Power," 
"The Helpers of Jesus Carrying on His Work." 
More than this, the groups of themes in one year 
not only have value in themselves but in the enrich- 
ment of ideas that have been developed previously 
and the preparation for those which are to come in 
another year. The lessons under the theme "God's 
Loving Kindness" 2 will deepen the spiritual ap- 
preciation of those which come under "The Right 
Use of God's Day, God's Book and God's House." 
In this way the child will see that those things are 
not merely matters of obedience, but are natural 
ways of showing love. 

For these reasons we say that graded lessons are 
constructive. They also tend to cultivate regularity 
of attendance. If each Sunday's work seems to be 
isolated, complete in itself, occasional or even fre- 
quent absence does not seem as harmful as when 
teachers, parents, and pupils all realize that there 
is a vital connection between the lessons and that 
you are ."missing part of it if you are not there" as 
one small pupil said. 

Aims. — There is another point of view from 
which Ave should see our work. Each lesson has a 



2 Second Year Primary International Graded Series. 



50 Methods for Primary Teachers 

stated aim, such as in the lesson, "A Lonely Hiding 
Place," (1 Kings 17I1-6) 1 where the aim is "to 
deepen the feeling that God cares, and is able to pro- 
tect." The aim of this individual lesson is related to 
that of the group under the theme "God the Pro- 
tector" in which the aim is "That the child may feel 
that God not only has infinite love, but infinite 
power." This aim and all the others contribute to 
the aim of the entire Primary Course, which is "To 
lead the child to know the heavenly Father, and to 
inspire within him the desire to live as God's child." 
Lessons in life. — Not only must we see connec- 
tions between lessons and aims, but we must be 
able to think of these in the actual life experiences 
of children. This is indeed "becoming as little chil- 
dren" in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
Let us think of certain experiences which are com- 
mon to most children six, seven, and eight years old. 
The first years at school are full of adjustments and 
experiments : the friends with whom they share 
their candy and apples, the boy or girl they "get 
mad at," the child who says unkind things about 
one, and that other child who "comes and tells," 
the possibility of gain by "telling tales," the daring 
of deceiving the teacher, the first time one fails to 
go directly home from school and has to make up 
an excuse to tell one's mother. Truly, it may be said 
that children at this time of life are "experimenting 
with moral law," and the conclusions- they reach as 
the result are the most powerful factors in molding 
character. Teachers must see and understand what 
is going on in a child's life and be ready to guide 



Materials of Religious Education 51 

and direct. A well-told story is the best form of 
guidance and direction that a teacher of children 
can use. The stories ''Peter the Fisherman'' and 
"Peter's Lie Forgiven" 1 have a real lesson for chil- 
dren who are learning to distinguish between fact 
and fancy and are sometimes testing the results of 
falsehood told for the sake of personal safety. 

Memory verses. — The very heart of the lesson 
continued in the story material is found in the 
memory verse. Through it the children may ex- 
press the idea that has been developed, and thus 
the impression is deepened. It is convenient 
for recall, and use, but is not intended to take 
the place of the children's own conclusions and 
statements, which they have increasing ability to 
make. How it is to be taught and recalled is a sub- 
ject for study later in this course; just now it is 
sufficient to state why it is part of the material. 

Kinds of lessons. — Not every lesson is to be ap- 
plied to conduct, although that is the usual idea 
concerning any religious teaching. There is an- 
other side to religion which we often fail to give a 
place in our plans — that of spiritual appreciation. 
Such lessons as "God, the Father of All," with its 
memory verse, "Jehovah, thou art our Father"; 
"The Awakening of Hidden Life," with its verse, 
"He hath made everything beautiful in its time," 
are not designed for application to gratitude or 
obedience, but are to cultivate that deep sense of 
God's care which will cause the children to be con- 



1 Third Year Primary International Graded Series. 



52 Methods for Primary Teachers 

tinually conscious of it as they go about in his world 
and among his creatures. 

In general terms, there are two types of lessons 
in the Primary Graded Course — appreciation and 
conduct. The lessons mentioned above are typical of 
the former. The lesson "How Abraham Stopped a 
Quarrel/' with its verse, "Blessed are the peace- 
makers/' is quite evidently a conduct lesson. 

Teaching equipment. — The lesson courses are 
chosen by a committee of educators and biblical schol- 
ars. They are merely in outline form, giving the 
general aim, arrangement by years, the lesson top- 
ics, and the Scripture material for teacher and pupil. 
Then begins the work of the publishing houses of 
the churches. They must employ lesson writers 
who will use these outlines as the basis for teachers' 
and pupils' helps. It is common practice to decry 
these materials and to say that publishers are 
merely commercialized agents. Almost invariably 
the publisher, editor, and lesson writer will be found 
to be earnest workers like yourselves, who desire to 
find and use the best things possible. They occupy 
the places they do because of unusual interest in this 
work and fitness for it, and count it a privilege to 
spend their time and energy in study, experimenta- 
tion, and writing for teachers of children. 

A teacher should do at least three things in rela- 
tion to teaching equipment: First, make sure that 
all of it is in hand ; this usually consists of a teach- 
er's textbook or quarterly, teacher's pictures, pupil's 
papers, and as much additional material in the form 



Materials of Reugious Education 53 

of reference books and objects as may be suggested 
and can be obtained. Second, read the Introduction 
or Foreword in the teacher's textbook or quarterly ; 
this contains information that is necessary for the 
proper use of the lesson materials. Third, become 
familiar with the general teaching plan until the 
book becomes your guide and helper rather than 
you its slave. 

The relation of the teacher to the materials of 
religious education is, then fourfold : to know the 
plan of the entire course and the place of each 
lesson in it; to understand the aims of lessons, 
themes, and years; to see the vital connection be- 
tween the lesson material and the pupils' lives; to 
be familiar with the mechanical features of the ma- 
terials. 

We are not mere machines to which certain ma- 
terials are given to be used according to rule; we 
are thinking, feeling, creative workers; in brief, we 
are teachers. 

Questions 

1. What are included in the materials of religious 
education, in the fullest sense of the term? 

2. What relation do the courses of study bear to 
other plans and methods ? 

3. What is the connection between themes and les- 
sons? 

4. What relationship exists between themes? 

5. Explain the place of aims in lesson materials. 

6. What must the teacher see besides the materials, 
themes, and aims? 

7. Why are memory verses included in the mate- 
rials? 



54 Methods for Primary Teachers 

8. Describe the teaching equipment and how it is 
created. 

9. What must the teacher know concerning this 
equipment ? 

10. What is the fourfold relation of the teacher to 
the materials of religious education? 



LESSON V 

BUILDING A PROGRAM 

If you were to ask the teachers and pupils in any 
church, "When does Sunday school begin?" they 
would probably reply invariably by saying, "Nine- 
thirty," or whatever time the session began. But 
to be perfectly accurate, the work of the school be- 
gins whenever a child enters the room. Therefore 
a Primary program, to be complete, must include 
plans for all the time. 

Pre-session plans. — There is nothing that comes 
so near meeting the physical, mental and spiritual 
needs of children as "something to do," provided 
that "something" is worth while. The very first to 
come will probably be busy for a few moments help- 
ing the department superintendent and teachers in 
making the last arrangements in the room. Some- 
times they will gather about the piano to sing new 
songs, as was suggested in Lesson III. This might 
be called the "informal department method" of pre- 
session work. 

There will always be ten or fifteen minutes just 
before the session when a good many of the chil- 
dren have arrived and others are coming. The teach- 
ers and leaders who do not use this time to good 
advantage are missing an opportunity quite as valu- 
able as any during the session. Teachers and 

55 



56 Methods for Primary Teachers 

officers who are late, or who use the time to visit 
with each other and their friends, or who do nothing 
but try to make the children behave, are guilty of 
criminal negligence of teaching opportunities. 

The alert teacher will find that there are many 
things related to the lesson and for which she does 
not have time during the brief teaching period. She 
can gather the children of her class about her be- 
fore the session to do these additional things. Per- 
haps she would like to develop the memory verse 
more fully by telling an "everyday" story. She 
may have found pictures or other material which 
will help to deepen the impression of the story 
she told last Sunday. There may be children who 
need more help (or instruction) in learning their 
memory verses, or a clearer idea of the home work 
expected' of them. This way of using the pre-ses- 
sion period (if such a natural and spontaneous plan 
needs any name) may be called the "class group 
method/' 

There are also things to be said in favor of the 
intermingling of the children of different classes and 
grades, according to their interests. This plan al- 
lows freedom and offers an opportunity for many 
different kinds of cooperation and self-control. 

At different tables or parts of the room provision 
may be made for a variety of projects and plans. 
At one place the children may be working on a 
scrapbook of animal pictures, to be sent to a chil- 
dren's hospital or a day nursery. At another there 
may be a bird scrapbook in which cut-out pictures 



Building a Program 57 

of birds 1 common to your community have been 
pasted, with blank pages opposite, upon which the 
teacher, who is at hand to assist, may write the 
interesting observations which the children report 
to her, such as the first robin, when and where it 
was seen, the nest-building of various birds, and 
other items' of interest. In another group the chil- 
dren may be making picture puzzles from rather 
large pictures (not less than 6x9 inches in size) 
which have been prepared by pasting on heavy 
paper and drawing zigzag lines on the back, for the 
children to follow in cutting. The pieces making 
each picture are then placed together in an en- 
velope. Children in another group may be drawing 
outline pictures of animals on tan or gray paper, 
using cardboard patterns. These, uncut and with a 
small pair of blunt-end scissors, may be sent to the 
convalescent ward of a children's hospital. Still 
another group of children might be listening to 
stories told by an older Primary child, or one from 
the Junior Department, or a girl from some Inter- 
mediate or Senior class, who is in training. All 
plans of this sort might be classified as the "informal 
group method/' 

A small reflectograph or other machine in which 
post cards can be used, may be used for a ten- 
minute story or "travel" period before the session. 
Or a story without pictures may be told to all the 
children who come early. Such plans as this may be 



a Perry Picture Company, Maiden, Massachusetts, or Brown Picture 
Company, Beverly, Mass. 



58 Methods for Primary Teachers 

described as the "whole department method" of pre- 
session work. 

All these plans may be used at different times in 
the year. Careful preparation should be made for 
all of them. Teachers should know definitely what 
they are to do. No child who is- not at least five 
minutes early should be allowed to join any of the 
groups; he must be at least fifteen minutes early to 
be allowed to participate in any of the w^ork. A 
signal upon the piano should be given three minutes 
before the time for the program to begin, so that 
work may be put away. It will be found that chil- 
dren who have been engaged in doing interesting 
work are well prepared for worship and study. Pur- 
poseful activity is more orderly than meaningless 
quiet. 

The spirit of the session. — Can we put into words 
the essence of this hour which children spend to- 
gether in worship and work? There should be dig- 
nity and a certain amount of formality, for the chil- 
dren w T hen they play school, church, or "going visit- 
ing/' reveal their love of these qualities. And yet 
the plans should be so flexible that they will permit 
a certain freedom and "give-and-take" ; that a ques- 
tion or comment by a child will not be looked upon 
as an interruption that may demolish a set order of 
things but as an indication of the children's think- 
ing or attitudes, which might determine the trend 
of the program. An interchange of thought may be 
a part of the department program as well as the 
lesson period. If what the children say is treated 



Building a Program 59 

seriously and courteously, they will soon catch the 
spirit and feel that the department and hour indeed 
belong to them but are not to be misused. 

The purposes of the program. — These first might 
be summed up as "training in worship/' yet that 
sounds like a mechanical process, as though wor- 
shiping were a feat to be performed. The fact of 
the matter is, that no text-book can put into that 
word anything that it does not have in the personal 
experience of the teacher. If "worship" means to 
you a deep sense of need of God's presence and help, 
if you feel the desire to express this to him, and to 
tell him of your love, then you can enter into the 
experiences of worship and lead others into it. Wor- 
ship is a means of expression. Through it we ex- 
press ideas and feelings, and thereby deepen them. 
Through joining with others in worship new ideas 
and feelings are created and old ones are stimulated 
and recalled. 

Therefore w r e are justified in a discussion of train- 
ing in worship, through the Primary Department 
program. Through this program the children 
should acquire the material and develop the attitude 
of worship. This is accomplished chiefly through 
songs, prayers, and Scripture passages that the 
children can honestly use as the embodiment of 
their own feelings. However, it must not be for- 
gotten that a child's spontaneous and informal ex- 
pression may be as truly worship as a song or 
prayer. 

The second purpose of a Primary Department 



60 Methods for Primary Teachers 

program is to provide opportunity for the expres- 
sion of friendliness, especially in particular in- 
stances, such as the recognition of birthdays, of new 
pupils, visitors and children who are returning after 
an absence of several weeks. Courtesy, brevity, and 
appropriateness should characterize all these ex- 
pressions of the friendly spirit. 

A third purpose is to create certain shared ideals 
among all the children of the department. Through 
stories, talks, pictures, and posters, there are many 
ideas which may be brought to all the children. 
Thus there is the element of instruction in the de- 
partment program. This should not conflict with 
the class instruction, but may be seasonal, of special 
community significance or of current interest. The 
teaching of a new song is part of the instruction 
element of the program, even though the song may 
ba used in worship after it has been learned. 

Time and sequence. — With these purposes and 
ideals of a department program before us, let us 
think of the time element. If the session is one 
hour long, the division of time may be something 
like this: worship, ten or fifteen minutes; friendly 
courtesies, five minutes ; instruction or conversation, 
five or ten minutes; lesson period, thirty minutes; 
(not a continuous instruction period, as will be dis- 
cussed later) ; closing service and dismissal, five 
minutes. If the session is one hour and a quarter 
in length, five minutes should be added to the wor- 
ship period, five minutes to the lesson period, and 
the other five minutes allowed either to the depart- 



Building a Program 61 

ment instruction, if a new song is to be taught, or 
to the closing service. 

A different order of program may be arranged by 
having the lesson period in two parts, one for ex- 
pression or recitation and the other for the new 
lesson. The theory and plan of this will be dis- 
cussed in Lesson X. The sequence, with this plan 
might be as follows: worship, first lesson period, 
general department program (friendliness and in- 
struction) ; second lesson period, closing. 

Another order of program is to have the children 
go from their pre-session work into the first lesson 
period, only a signal upon the piano indicating the 
beginning of the session, although the teachers may 
lead their pupils in a quiet word of prayer before 
beginning the class work. This first lesson period 
is followed by an assembly of the entire department 
for worship, friendly courtesies, and department in- 
struction ; after which comes the second lesson pe- 
riod. 

A time consciousness must be cultivated by offi- 
cers and teachers, so that the necessary things will 
be done in the time that is available. For example, 
if this sensibility to the passing of time is lacking, 
a birthday service might be allowed to consume 
fifteen or twenty minutes, or some item of depart- 
ment instruction extended over a period so long that 
the lesson period is greatly reduced. There is no 
greater hindrance to a successful program than 
"long-drawn-out" talks, birthday services, or pray- 
ers. Plan the time, keep to it, speak distinctly and 



62 Methods for Primary Teachers 

with enthusiasm ; do not hurry, but do not allow 
time to be wasted. 

In the outlines of time just given, the sequence 
has been suggested, but in addition there should be 
unity in the items included in each part of the pro- 
gram, and between the various parts. Each thing 
should be questioned: "Is the idea contained of 
value in itself?^ "Is it suitable to the purpose and 
plan of the entire program ?' In other words, "Why 
do we do this thing?" 

Both as to time and sequence attention should be 
given to the transition periods ; the passing from de- 
partment to class and back to department. Even 
when there is no changing of room, the transition 
must be planned if it is to be orderly. The depart- 
ment superintendent should retain control of the 
situation until the classes are in place. Music, or- 
derly passing to classes, counting for each act in the 
process if the children are to move their chairs from 
assembly to class groups, should be provided. 

Program planning. — The mechanics of this proc- 
ess should not be neglected. The program should 
be freshly planned each week. It should be written 
out, and usually this outline should be before the 
superintendent for reference during the session. A 
small looseleaf notebook may be used, the programs 
dated and preserved for future reference. A copy 
of the written program should be giveaeach Sunday 
to the pianist. 

Program themes. — The department superintend- 
ent should be familiar with the themes and the 



Building a Program 63 

lesson materials being used in the various classes. 
It is not necessary to weave these into the depart- 
ment program, but it is sometimes desirable to do 
so. It will nearly always be found that there is 
some idea common to these various lessons and that 
idea may be embodied in the worship portion of the 
program. Sometimes the memory verse of one of 
the grades may be just the Scripture material most 
appropriate to the program. The class will find 
satisfaction in having this part in the service. 

In addition there are certain topical and seasonal 
ideas which are important to the children at certain 
times, and these will find their place in the depart- 
ment program. In this way we can give religious 
significance to the familiar experiences of the chil- 
dren's lives and they will unconsciously carry their 
religion over into everyday life. These seasonal 
ideas for the year (beginning October first) may be 
something as follows : harvest, food, beauty, grati- 
tude, the joys of giving and receiving, winter's 
beauty and comfort, honor and truth (for emphasis 
in February), spring and Easter, summertime and 
Children's Day, patriotism, vacation, school life. 

Children are more and more sharing in the life 
and interests of adults. Their participation in Red 
Cross and other campaigns is evidence of this. 
Therefore certain phases of church and community 
life may be shared by the Primary children. They 
have a right to be prepared for a share in the ac- 
tivities of the Kingdom, and their range of interests 



64 Methods for Primary Teachers 

and capacity for intelligent response is greater than 
we sometimes realize. 

Missions. — Missionary stories of special current 
interest, such as "Community Picture Stories/' 1 
"Near East Picture Stories/' 2 have their place in 
the Primary program because they are within the 
children's capacity of sympathy and understanding; 
they help the children to establish Christian rela- 
tionships with the world, both directly and through 
others; they suggest lines of action within the 
power of the children to perform. A missionary 
story in order to be included in a Primary program 
must measure up to this standard. Usually these 
stories will be about the home, play and school 
lives of other children. They should broaden sym- 
pathy rather than merely stimulate or gratify curi- 
osity concerning the peculiar customs of people un- 
like ourselves. Love, rather than benevolent pity, 
is our aim. It must be remembered that in the les- 
son course there are specific missionary stories and 
many others which are truly missionary in their 
aims and results. Only such additional material as 
is needed for special emphasis, should be included 
in the program of the Primary Department. And 
this need must come from the pupil's spiritual life 
and their relationships. 

Temperance. — Another special topic that should 
be considered in planning programs for the Primary 
Department is temperance. Again it is to be re- 
membered that in the lesson course there are les- 



^issionary Education Movement, New York City. 
2 Ibid. 



Building a Program 65 

sons on self-control, choosing the right, the right 
use of God's gifts, and similar themes which occur 
at such places in the course that their connection 
gives them added value. Again, however, there is 
value in a shared idea and there are songs such as : 

"Let all we touch and hear and see 
Help us more pure and strong to be. 
It pleases God when we are strong 
To choose the right and shun the wrong/' 1 

This will help us in accomplishing our aim, as will 

also the "Child's Promise," by Frances E. Willard : 

"I promise, God helping me, I will not do, or say, or 
listen to anything I cannot tell my mother." 

The ideals of the homes and community in which 

your children live, will determine their specific 

needs along this line. 

Questions 

1. When does the Primary Department session be- 
gin? 

2.. Describe four methods of pre-session work and 
give an example of each. 

3. What is the value of pre-session work? 

4. Describe the qualities of the program which go 
to make its spirit. 

5. Name three purposes of the Primary Department 
program. 

6. Outline a program, indicating the time allowed 
each item. 

7. How, and for what reasons, would you lengthen 
certain parts and shorten others? 

8. Describe the manner of conducting the program. 

9. When should the element of unity prevail? 

^Carols, I<eyda. 



66 Methods for Primary Teachers 

10. What test should be applied to each item of the 
program ? 

11. What provision should be made for transition 
periods ? 

12. Name the mechanical steps in program planning. 

13. What elements enter into the themes employing 
program building? 

14. What type of missionary material may be in- 
cluded? 

15. What kind of temperance material? 

Assignment for Observation 

Proceed with the preparation of your notebook 
or observation sheets as you began following Lesson II. 
Refer to the instructions given with that list. Observe 
the following matters and record your findings : 

1. How long before the beginning of the session 
were the department officers and teachers present? 

2. Did the children come into the room as soon as 
they arrived at the building? 

3. What did they do when they came? 

4. Was there any effort to provide profitable work? 

5. What was the attitude of teachers and children 
toward each other? 

6. How was the department called together, and 
was there order or confusion? State what you think 
was the reason for either. 

7. What pre-session work would you have supplied 
under the circumstances? 

8. What was the children's attitude during the pro- 
gram? 

9. What per cent participated in the songs and other 
parts of the program? 

10. Was there any spontaneous conversation? If 
so, what was the attitude of the department super- 
intendent toward it? 






Building a Program 67 

11. Outline briefly the program of the session and 
tell which parts were worship, which an interchange 
of friendliness, and which instruction. 

12. Did there seem to you to be any error in the 
arrangement as to time and sequence? 

13. What was the underlying theme of the program? 

14. Was there any evidence that the program had 
been planned ? What evidence ? 

15. What improvement in general arrangement and 
manner of conducting the program do you think would 
have been desirable ? 



LESSON VI 

WORSHIP AND PRAYER 

''Worship is the soul's humble and earnest ap- 
proach to God in a definite act." What will char- 
acterize this definite act on the part of Primary 
children? Will it be solemn, always quiet, or may 
it sometimes be joyous? One thing is sure, it must 
be sincere. In suggesting an act of worship or any 
material to be used in worship, such as a song or 
prayer, we must be very sure that it is within the 
understanding and emotional capacity of the chil- 
dren. To encourage, or to insist that they say 
things they cannot or do not mean, is to train them 
in a form of dishonesty that is bad in itself and will 
hinder their spiritual development. Many church 
members go to church but do not worship, because 
they do not know how, and their lives are poorer 
because of this. The worship of a child is not like that 
of an adult, but it prepares for it and in a measure de- 
termines what it is to be. 

The attitude of worship. — How shall we discern 
and stimulate in another what we so little under- 
stand in our own experience? There is an attitude 
of heart and mind which precedes the act of wor- 
ship and without which it is not real. Have there 
not been times when you felt the power and love of 
God as a perfect glow of satisfaction and peace? It 
may have been the balmy air of the first spring days, 

68 



Worship and Prayer 69 

or the lilt of a bird's song, or the sight of fields of 
grain, or a child's eager face, something that made 
you believe in things and in God who made them. 
To recall any of these things and countless others 
that affect different people in different ways, repro- 
duces the feeling originally associated with them. 

How do such feelings express themselves in your 
own experience? Is it in a more kindly manner to- 
ward people with whom you come in contact soon 
after the experience? Or is it in the words of some 
hymn you know ? Or in a simple prayer of gratitude ? 
Too often we think of God only in connection with 
our hours of need, which are plentiful enough; but 
it is in hours of happiness and joy that we may 
meet him as naturally as little children. 

As we come into God's house, and as we live in his 
world, we must keep the windows of our hearts 
open to the influences that can never enter when 
they are shut out by anxious or petty thoughts. 

A child's heart is naturally open to sensations. 
He needs only the guidance and interpretation of 
his experiences that a reverent mother, father, or 
teacher may give. It is this that we attempt to 
do through the worship period of the Primary De- 
partment. 

Prayer in the department program. — We fall so 
readily into the way of opening the session with 
prayer, praying at certain stated times, such as the 
offering, and closing with prayer, that we, and the 
children too, sometimes enter into these in a per- 
functory manner. There are other times when 



70 Methods for Primary Teachers 

prayer is appropriate ; in fact, whenever at any part 
of the program we become deeply conscious of 
God's goodness, or our need of him, we may speak 
to him in prayer. Just after a story or in connection 
with some special event that is to be celebrated, 
such as the return of a child after long absence, or 
in relation to some plan that the children may have, 
it will be natural for us to turn to our heavenly 
Father in praise or petition. 

The prayer should be brief since it calls for an 
intensified concentration which children cannot give 
for an extended period of time. Acts of apparent 
irreverence on the part of the children are frequently 
due to an emotional reaction caused by strain. If 
we pray frequently and with great simplicity and 
directness, the children will respond. 

The form of prayer. — This should vary accord- 
ing to the situation. Sometimes a verse or poem 
will suitably express the ideas and desires of the 
children. They may learn these and use them with 
sufficient frequency to keep them in mind. The fol- 
lowing words may well express a united gratitude : 

"For my home and friends, I thank Thee, 
For my father, mother dear, 
For the hills, the trees, the flowers, 
For the sky so bright and clear. 1 

Some of the memory verses are prayers and 
should be so used. A Bible verse which is a prayer 
should never be merely repeated but should be 
prayed. Perhaps the department superintendent 



iFrom Songs for Little People, Danielson and Conant. 



Worship and Prayer 71 

will say, "The boys and girls in the first-year class 
have a memory verse which is a prayer and perhaps 
all of us would like to say it to our heavenly 
Father." Such verses as the following will lend 
themselves to this use : "Teach me thy way, O 
Jehovah" (Psalm 86:11), "What time I am afraid, 
I will put my trust in thee" (Psalm 56:3). There 
are other memory verses which are an excellent 
preparation for prayer and may be woven into the 
program. The following is an example of these. 
"He hath made everything beautiful in its time" 
(Eccl. 3:11) ; "Jehovah is nigh unto all them that 
call upon him" (Psalm 145:18). 

Very often a few simple words spoken by the 
superintendent or a teacher will voice the prayer 
most expressive of the children's wants. This 
prayer should be dignified but so very natural that 
its reality will be felt. Such a prayer as, "Father 
in heaven, we thank thee for this place that we love 
and for our happy time together. We thank thee 
for caring for Albert and bringing him back to us. 
Amen." Sometimes the children will suggest to 
you the things that they would like to have you say 
to the Father in heaven. These may seem common- 
place or materialistic but the children are develop- 
ing spiritual ideas, and we must not expect too 
much of them, especially when w r e consider the im- 
poverished spiritual atmosphere in which many of 
them live. The original prayer on the part of the 
superintendent or the prayer suggested by the chil- 
dren may offer an opportunity for them to partici- 



72 Methods for Primary Teachers 

pate personally if they are allowed to repeat phrase 
by phrase, after the superintendent. 

Whether the Lord's Prayer shall be used by chil- 
dren of Primary age is a matter for thoughtful con- 
sideration. Many of them will have become familiar 
with it in public school or in other places. Very 
few of them understand it or even a small portion 
of it. It is to be wondered if this misunderstanding 
does not hinder the fuller appreciation of it in later 
years. Many children ten and eleven years old have 
been found who have been repeating what they had 
thought were the proper words but which were ab- 
surd or meaningless. Perhaps it should be so inter- 
preted that the children could understand it, but it 
would be much better to let this come in its proper 
place in the lesson course, where it may be most 
beautifully taught in connection with the lesson, 
"Jesus Teaching How to Pray." It will always mean 
more to the children if they have learned it in this 
way, and they will be less likely to use it thought- 
lessly. 

The children's own prayers. — Their ideas of 
prayer are changing, and some of them will come to 
feel before they leave the Primary Department that 
they are too old to say the simple verse or prayer 
that they have said each night at bedtime. The 
question of what they shall say, and what their 
general attitude toward private prayer, shall be, are 
matters which can probably be discussed better in 
the smaller class group. However, they may be 
mentioned and suggestions may be made to the 



Worship and Prayer 73 

children, in the department program. They deal 
with an experience common to all the children and 
it gives importance to have them discussed in the 
larger group. Some eight-year-old children have 
written very simple and beautiful prayers which 
they themselves like to use for their evening and 
morning prayer. In some way, before each child 
leaves the department, he should have thought se- 
riously about his private prayers and should feel 
that he can speak directly, in his own way, to the 
heavenly Father, who understands. There will be 
children who prefer to use verses more mature in 
thought than those they have used in their earlier 
years. Other children will find pleasure forming 
prayers for themselves. 

There is no greater privilege than to lead boys 
and girls into a natural and sincere prayer life. 

Questions 

1. Describe the worship of Primary children. 

2. When should prayer come into the department 
program ? 

3. What four characteristics should prayer in the 
Primary Department have? 

4. Describe five or more forms of prayer in the 
Primary Department. 

5. How should the Lord's Prayer be taught? 

6. What change will come in the children's individ- 
ual prayer life? 



LESSON VII 

MUSIC 

The chief use of music in the Primary Depart- 
ment is in combination with words, and there is no 
part of the program to which the children give 
themselves with such abandon as the songs. Their 
response to rhythm in both words and music is 
natural and whole-hearted. 

Quieting. — But there are other things which mu- 
sic may do, and which nothing else can do quite so 
well. If attention at the beginning of the session is 
to be gained by ringing a bell or through mere 
noise in other forms, it becomes a matter of compe- 
tition between superintendent and children as to 
who can make the most noise, instead of the least. 
If the superintendent will go to the table at the 
front of the room, stand or sit quietly there, and nod 
to the pianist who begins to play softly the strains 
of some familiar song, or the pleasing harmony of 
some "call to attention/' the tendency is toward 
order and quiet. 

Stimulating. — Sometimes the atmosphere and 
general conditions are such that children need to 
be stimulated rather than quieted. Clear ringing 
notes upon the piano, or the music of some unfa- 
miliar song will rouse curiosity, result in focus of 
attention and prepare for the first words of the su- 
perintendent. Perhaps she will say, "That song 

74 



Music 75 

h^s words which we will like to learn and sing some 
day soon." 

Orderly action. — In still another way music will 
induce orderly action, and that is through the 
march. The fact that it calls for cooperation, that 
it is an outlet for activity, and that it may provide 
for passing to and from classes, are all reasons for 
the effective use of marching in the Primary ses- 
sion. It is well established that children cannot 
successfully combine marching with other acts such 
as singing and giving. In fact, the response to 
rhythm through the act of marching is so complete 
in itself that it may be used for its own sake. This 
does not mean that it is only a physical response. 
The feeling of unity and of cooperation is mental 
and spiritual in its meaning and results. March- 
ing may also deepen emotions and be a means of 
translating them into action. The following is a 
typical situation : A certain group of children are 
familiar with "The Knights' Marching Song," and 
with the idea of knights, their faring forth to do 
deeds of bravery and helpfulness. The idea was 
developed through pictures and stories. The music 
of that song suggests these qualities to them be- 
cause of previously established connections. It is 
not always necessary to sing the words in order to 
have them felt : 

"Christ our King and Leader, too, 
We his knights both brave and true, 
He has work for us to do 
While marching on." 1 



1 Songs for Little People, Danielson and Conant. 



76 Methods for Primary Teachers 

If the words have not been used recently enough 
to make sure that they are familiar, the children 
may sing the words while standing in line or in a 
large circle, and follow this by marching. Perhaps 
before the march a story has been told that sug- 
gests some type of service that the children may 
do. Without any comment upon the connection, 
the children may inarch to the music of this song. 
The idea that "He has work for us to do" becomes 
deepened through this activity. The physical re- 
action after listening quietly to a story is provided 
for. After the march there may be an informal dis- 
cussion of some definite project growing out of the 
story and the idea that has been deepened and 
strengthened by the music and march. Rested bod- 
ies and order will be by-products of the process. 
The real result is the cooperative service which the 
children will enter upon. 

Music that has no association with words but 
that is beautiful and impelling in its own right 
may be used for marching to and from classes or 
at any time a march is desired. 

Thus we have seen that music may quiet, stim- 
ulate, and produce orderly action. 

The power of song. — As we said in the beginning, 
the chief use of music is in combination with words, 
thereby enriching the beauty and meaning of the 
poem. Ideas which are carried into a child's con- 
sciousness through a song will go farther and last 
longer than any others. The songs of the World 
War still remain on the lips of the children and will 



Music 77 

be handed down to succeeding generations more 
surely than the facts of history. 

How should we test a song to determine its right 
place in the program of the Primary Department? 
Shall an attractive tune or the fact that we heard 
the song in another department, or even the fact 
that the children like to sing it, justify our use of it? 

Basis for selecting. — There are at least three tests 
to be applied. First, "Can the children mean this?" 
This will include both the test of vocabulary and 
experience. It is true that sometimes the meaning 
and spirit of a song will carry it over into the un- 
derstanding and appreciation of the children even 
when there are a few words which the children 
cannot understand. We can all of us remember 
songs that we loved when we were children and 
which we understood in spirit if not in their full 
meaning. But unless this matter is very carefully 
guarded serious misunderstandings will result. In 
the matter of experience we must be yet more care- 
ful, for if the impression is gained in childhood that 
one is not responsible for what one says in a song, 
insincerity will result. A child cannot sincerely 
sing, 

"Would you be free from your burden of sin? 
There's power in the blood." 

But he can truly mean : 

"All things bright and beautiful, 
All creatures great and small, 
All things wise and wonderful, 
The Lord God made them all." 



78 Methods for Primary Teachers 

The second test is, "Are the words and music re- 
ally good and are they suited to each other ?" This 
is largely a matter of taste on the part of the indi- 
vidual making the test. Unless you appreciate the 
best in religious music in your own life it is diffi- 
cult for you to choose the best in the children's 
realm. Continual contact with the best hymns will 
develop one's judgment and discrimination. Cer- 
tainly, a song the music of which has an inherent 
tendency toward rag-time, or the words of which 
are trivial, is not worth including in the precious 
hour which we have for religious education. Learn 
the words yourselves, say them over frequently, and 
think of them in relation to the children's experi- 
ence ; then ask yourselves "Is this worth while?" 
In testing the words of a song we should keep in 
mind the older pupils of the department as well as 
the younger ones. Eight-year-old Primary boys do 
not like to be called upon to sing "Two Little 
Hands to Work for Jesus" when their hands figure 
chiefly in their own experience as being usually 
dirty and requiring endless washing! Songs in 
which the word "little" occurs to any great extent 
should not be included in the Primary program. 

The third test is "Can the children sing this 
without strain?" Their range of voice is generally 
between D above middle C and E in the fourth 
space, and the tendency should be away from too 
many low tones. Above all things else children 
should not be urged to sing loudly. It is bad for 
their voices in the first place, and decreases the 



Music 79 

spiritual value of their singing. The Primary su- 
perintendent who said "Sing louder so they can 
hear us in the other room" was supplying an un- 
worthy incentive. The leader of one of the most 
effective children's choruses in the country says to 
them frequently "Sing it down," and their well 
modulated tones are a beautiful result. But any 
emphasis upon the technique decreases the spiritual 
value of a song and there is no place in the Primary 
Department for the song leader who sacrifices spir- 
itual values to technical effects. Moreover the 
songs must be chosen by the one who plans the 
program, and must be entirely suitable to it in ev- 
ery respect. 

Thus we have three tests of children's songs : un- 
derstanding, appreciation, and physical ability. 
Types of songs — 

The different parts of the Primary program call 
for different kinds of songs. There is the song 
which is distinctly worship. Such is the song: 

"Saviour, teach me day by day, 
Love's sweet lesson to obey; 
Sweeter lesson cannot be, 
Loving Him who first loved me." 

There are story songs, containing vivid word pic- 
tures of which the following is a familiar example : 

"I think when I read that sweet story of old, 
When Jesus was here among men, 
How He called little children as lambs to His fold, 
I should like to have been with Him then." 



80 Methods for Primary Teachers 

These story songs are much loved by the chil- 
dren, and nearly every program should contain one 
of them. 

Seasonal songs are sometimes distinct in them- 
selves, though they frequently come within the 
general classification given above. 

Offering songs are also frequently worshipful, 
although the following is an excellent example of 
one that is simply conversational : 

" Since my heavenly Father gives me everything, 
Lovingly and gladly now my gift I bring." 

Birthday and greeting songs are to be measured, 
in addition to the three tests given above, by the 
spirit of kindly courtesy which they contain. 

Teaching new songs. — The laws of the associa- 
tion of ideas operate so surely and extensively in 
the mental world that we must be very sure to 
establish the right association in the first place. It 
is far more difficult to correct a false impression or 
a mistake than it would have been to have created 
the right impression in the first place. Therefore, 
it is not safe to teach songs by rote; that is, by 
saying the words line by line, the children repeating 
them. This leaves the matter of interpretation 
and the establishment of connected ideas to be a 
matter of chance. It is better to develop the idea 
before the words of a song are given. This may 
be done through a story, conversation concerning 
a picture, recalling some experience common to the 
children, or through Bible verses familiar to them. 
When the idea has been briefly presented the words 



Music 81 

may be read or said to the children, just as a story 
would be told. They should hear the entire song 
before they learn any part of it. The music may 
then be played, and perhaps the children will sing 
the syllable "la" to it. When they have the idea, 
some familiarity with the words as a whole and 
with the music, the matter of learning the song is 
not a difficult thing. On the other hand, it will be 
found that when children learn words line by line, 
and can even repeat the words of the entire song, 
they must practically learn them again in connec- 
tion with the music. If they learn to sing them in 
the first place, it is a much simpler process. 

Since only a small portion of the children can 
read, song books for them are not necessary. For 
the sake of those who can read, song rolls or sheets 
may be prepared, the words being written in the 
form of script with which the children are familiar 
in public school. These sheets may be of heavy 
paper reenforced at the top, have eyelets or hang- 
ers, and be suspended from a rack made for the 
purpose or hooks in the molding or the top of the 
blackboard frame. 

Songs which are familiar to the children, which 
they know and love, should not be discarded merely 
because the officers and teachers grow tired of 
them. We must remember that to many of the 
children they are new. The proportion of new to 
old in the department program should be three to 
one, and in the round of the year there will proba- 
bly be about twenty-five songs used. These may be 



82 Methods for Primary Teachers 

gathered from many sources, and assembled in a 
loose-leaf book, one copy for the pianist and an- 
other for the department superintendent. The 
words of songs should be learned by the teachers 
in advance of the pupils if possible. For this pur- 
pose typewritten copies may be distributed at the 
department conference and the songs sung by the 
teachers until they are familiar with them. Teach- 
ers who do not participate in the department pro- 
gram will unconsciously hinder the children from 
doing so. The typewritten copies of the words of 
the songs, which have been given to the teachers, 
should not be used in the department session, as 
the children who can read will try to look on a 
teacher's copy and thus reduce the unity of the de- 
partment. Teachers and pupils alike can sing bet- 
ter with their heads up and their eyes upon the 
words on the song sheet or with their attention 
focused upon what the department superintendent 
is saying. 

Questions 

1. What is the chief use of music in the Primary 
Department ? 

2. Name three other uses and describe them in ac- 
tual situations. 

3. Can the march be combined with singing or other 
acts? Why? 

4. Describe the combination of ideas and action 
through a march. 

5. What results are achieved through the combina- 
tion of music and words? 



Music 83 

6. What tests should be applied to a song to be 
used in the Primary Department and what do these 
tests include? 

7. Name the types of songs needed in the Primary 
program and give an example of each. 

8. Test these according to the previous tests out- 
lined. 

9. Describe the rote method of teaching songs. 
What are its advantages? 

10. By what methods may a song be developed? 

11. Name the steps in teaching a song. 

12. What part has the department superintendent? 
The teachers? 



LESSON VIII 

GIVING AND THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT 

If giving were only a matter of the hand, it would 
be easy to define its place in the Primary Depart- 
ment, for all that would be necessary would be to 
collect the money in the most expeditious way and 
turn it over to the treasury of the school. Alas, 
that is all the offering amounts to in some depart- 
ments ! But giving is a matter of the head and of 
the heart. In fact, it is not really giving at all un- 
less there is understanding and feeling. 

A child's money. — Circumstances vary in differ- 
ent places, but nearly all children have money to 
spend, usually given them for specific purposes, 
pleasures, or necessities. Occasionally there are 
children who have a stated allowance each week. 
But all of them are becoming somewhat worldly- 
wise in the buying powers of money. They know 
to a nicety just what desirables can be bought for 
a nickel, and those that cost six cents, beside all 
those alluring things that cost ten cents, or that 
call for real wealth, like seventeen cents or a quar- 
ter! Most of them have learned the stern fact of 
life that nearly all the things one really desires cost 
more money than one has. Financial stringency is 
not limited to big business enterprises; it rests 
heavily on a seven-year-old boy. There are special 
cases such as the children to whom dimes and 

84 



Giving and the Missionary Spirit 85 

quarters are given without question or limit, and 
who therefore have little idea of the value of 
money ; there are a few who have no money at all 
but whose needs are met by parents or guardians, 
so that they have little idea of the connection be- 
tween money and the things of life ; and occasion- 
ally there are children who have no money at all 
because of real poverty. 

Of course the whole question of a child's money 
and his attitude toward it goes back to the home. 
There can be no more practical subjects discussed 
in a parent-teachers' meeting than those relating to 
a child's right of possession, the manner in which 
money shall come to him, whether by earning, 
through an allowance, or irregular amounts. A 
text-book on Primary methods is not the place for 
the treatment of the subject, but it is the back- 
ground of our consideration of a child's giving, for 
before he can give he must have. It must be his 
own and he must choose to give it, else it is not 
really a gift. He must have an appreciation of his 
own property rights before he can really share what 
he has. We must be familiar with the situation in 
the experience of the children in order to approach 
the matter wisely. 

A child's offering. — The chief value of the offer- 
ing made by the child in the Primary Department 
is in the effect produced in the child's life by the 
act of giving. What motive shall we supply or sug- 
gest? Unwittingly sometimes the home has cre- 
ated an impression that the "penny" brought by 



86 Methods for Primary Teachkrs 

the child has only one connection and that is with 
the "paper" he is expected to bring home. When 
this condition exists the spiritual value of the child's 
offering is entirely lacking; in fact, it is not an 
offering at all. It is quite right that a child of 
Primary age should feel that he has a share in the 
responsibility for the church of which his school is 
a part. The material welfare of the church under 
the conditions which separate church and state de- 
mands that this sense of responsibility shall be de- 
veloped. In other words, the conditions in which 
the child must be prepared to live, demand a trained 
sense of responsibility. But much more than this is 
involved. The child's love for the church must 
have an opportunity for expression if it is to be- 
come a permanent part of his character. He must 
think of the church as doing its work in wider cir- 
cles of influence than simply conducting services 
within its four walls. He may share in this wider 
work, and find joy in doing so. 

The missionary lessons he has studied, such ad- 
ditional stories along that line (as suggested in Les- 
son V) and the definite projects of service that 
have been discussed in the department, have pre- 
pared him in mind and heart to participate through 
gifts as well as service. 

The form of the offering. — In view of all these 
facts he may intelligently give to the church and the 
work of the church. He should feel that his offer- 
ing in the Primary Department is sharing in the 
church life. 






Giving and the Missionary Spirit 87 

An offering each Sunday for the local church and 
for "others," in a duplex envelope provided for that 
purpose, is an orderly way in which the gift may be 
made. The children like the sense of importance 
which is attached to the possession of a box of en- 
velopes. It results in regularity of giving and the 
feeling that one's individual part would be missed. 
Children in the Primary Department should not 
be pledged to give stated amounts, but they should 
know that a record is kept of their names, the 
numbers on their envelopes, and the amounts they 
give. This guards against dishonesty. The plan of 
giving a part of all the money which they have 
should be talked over with them. Regular giving of 
proportionate amounts is better for the spiritual de- 
velopment of the child than spasmodic giving of 
larger sums, as the result of emotional pressure; 
hence it is better for the Kingdom ultimately. We 
do violence to a child's sense of property rights and 
his growing spirit of generosity when we urge him to 
give amounts out of proportion to his ability. Since 
a reaction frequently follows such giving and we 
ultimately defeat the very purpose we have in mind 
— that of an increased income for worthy causes ; 
in other words, the exploitation of childhood does 
not pay from a financial or spiritual point of view. 

Our aim is to stimulate the children's desire to 
give, to train them in regular and proportionate 
giving, and to help them find the "joy of giving." 

The school policy. — The question of the offering 
in the Primary Department cannot be considered 



88 Methods for Primary Teachers 

without taking the policy of the whole school into 
account. Does the school "pay its own way" and, 
perchance, help in the general finances of the 
church? Or, is the school expense an item in the 
church budget? Certainly, the latter plan makes it 
possible to develop the idea of giving to the church 
on the part of the children. There are questions of 
administration which should be agreed upon. If 
a duplex system is used, there should be an under- 
standing on the part of the department secretary as 
to the form in which funds are to be reported to the 
general school officer. Sometimes the money for 
the local church may be turned in each Sunday, 
while that for missions may be reported monthly 
or turned in at stated times. These gifts "for oth- 
ers" may be used for special objects in which the 
children are interested, provided this policy is 
agreed upon in the general workers' conference of 
the school. In fact, any special arrangement for a 
department must be approved by this group. Care 
should be taken that the children's interests are not 
narrowed through being limited to a small range 
of special objects. 

An act of worship. — The giving of the offering 
should never be done as an item of business and 
simply a matter to be gotten out of the way. It 
should not be "taken up" by the teachers, for the 
children come to look upon them as the ones who 
administer the funds. It should not be taken in the 
class period at all, since it is difficult to do it then 
in a worshipful way. If it is left at the door or 



Giving and the Missionary Spirit 89 

some other convenient place, as the children enter, 
it should be made clear that the money presented in 
the worship service is that which the children gave 
as they came in. 

The offering should be a part of the department 
program, and a worshipful service should attend it. 
Since children do not easily give attention to more 
than one process at a time, it is probably better to 
have the giving of the offering a very simple serv- 
ice rather than combining it with a march. Mod- 
eling it somewhat after the offering service in 
church serves also to prepare the children to under- 
stand that. The following is an example which 
embodies all of the foregoing principles : Four 
children (in a department of forty) were asked to 
assist. They went to the back of the assembly and 
then came together, two by two, to the superintend- 
ent's table at the front of the room. They were 
given the offering baskets which were very simply 
and artistically decorated with the seasonal design 
being used that month. While these children stood 
in their places at the front of the room the others 
stood and joined in singing an offering hymn. The 
children with the baskets then passed down the 
center aisle and the outside of the assembly, re- 
ceiving the offering, which they brought to the 
front of the room and placed upon the table, stand- 
ing reverently before it while the superintendent 
offered a brief prayer. The children then took the 
baskets to the secretary's desk and returned to their 
seats. 



90 Methods for Primary Teachers 

If for any reason it is desirable that the record 
of the offering shall be kept by classes, one child 
from each class may come forward to receive a bas- 
ket in which the offering of this class is to be 
placed. However, it would seem better to have the 
offering made as a department, since the class group 
is a flexible one, likely to change. Moreover, rivalry 
in amounts between classes introduces a motive 
which is likely to interfere with the real spirit of 
giving. 

Sometimes the offering service may be preceded 
by recalling Bible verses, either by classes or the 
entire department. Such verses as "Every good 
gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming 
down from the Father/' "He loved us and sent his 
Son," are suitable for this use. Perhaps an offering 
verse may be chosen for each month. 

The birthday offering is another form of giving; 
and, while it occurs as part of the birthday service, 
it is also worshipful in its meaning, for it is a gift 
of gratitude for the heavenly Father's care. It may 
be given to the missionary fund or to some special 
and unselfish service agreed upon by the children. 
We must not take for granted that the children 
understand the things involved in this or other 
forms of giving. There are always new children in 
the department, or some to whom the matter has 
not been clear, and a frequent though varied dis- 
cussion and explanation are necessary. 

The test of giving in the Primary Department is 
not "How much have the children given?" but 



Giving and the Missionary Spirit 91 

"How much do they care and in what spirit have 
they given?" 

Questions 

1. What place has money in the everyday experi- 
ences of children of Primary age? Give actual cases. 

2. What is the value of training in giving? 

3. What principles enter into this process of train- 
ing? 

4. Describe the form of the offering. 

5. What relations exist between the department and 
school ? 

6. What principles underlie the offering service in 
the Primary program? 

7. What is the test of the children's giving? 

Problem for Discussion 

What should be done concerning the child who 
spends for himself the money intended for his offer- 
ing? Can it be said to be his offering if he has no 
choice in the matter? Who is at fault? 

Assignment for Observation 

You will include in this portion of your observation 
work the matters considered in Lessons VI, VII and 
VIII. Continue your notebook work as in the as- 
signments given following Lessons II and V. Visit 
the department you are observing to note particularly 
the prayer, music, and offering service. 

1. What evidence of a worshipful spirit did you 
see: (1) on the part of the children? (2) the teach- 
ers? 

2. What form of prayer was used? 

3. How were the children prepared for the prayer? 

4. How many times was prayer offered, and in what 
connection ? 



$2 Methods For Primary Teachers 

5. Were there other times when you felt that prayer 
would have been appropriate ? 

6. Who offered the prayer? 

7. Was it of suitable length and subject matter? 

8. How was music used, aside from singing? 

9. Were there other ways in which it could have 
been used to good advantage? 

10. What songs were sung? Indicate which were 
for worship, friendly courtesy, and which were merely 
topical. 

11. Were they within the children's experience and 
vocabulary? If not, in what ways? 

12. Were they worth while as to words and music? 

13. Was the range of voice right? 

14. Did the children enter into the singing with evi- 
dent interest and joy? 

15. (Investigation outside of school session.) De- 
fine the attitude toward money on the part of five 
children about the ages of six, seven, and eight. 

16. How was the offering made in the session? 

17. What explanation was made (or had been made 
recently) ? 

18. What did the children say about the offering? 
(Conversation with individual children.) 

19. Was the giving worshipful or mechanical? Give 
reason for vour answer. 



LESSON IX 

THE USE OF PICTURES 

How quickly a child lays down a book if it has 
no pictures in it ! The comment of a seven-year-old 
after he takes from a table a large book with an 
attractive cover and settles himself to enjoy it, 
"Huh, nothing but words, and long ones at that !" 
might be applied to some Primary Department 
rooms and sessions. The theory underlying the 
teaching value of pictures is so simple that we must 
take care not to confuse it by our discussion of it. 
"It cannot be denied that what is seen is retained 
longer than what is heard, and that generally a 
deeper impression is made thereby, not alone in re- 
lation to memory, but also in its effects on feelings 
and will." 1 

Choice of pictures. — Putting a picture into a 
child's environment is no small matter, for his life 
may be influenced by it in far-reaching ways. Good 
judgment of color and form must be used by those 
who select the pictures, and these qualities can only 
be cultivated through contact and practice in dis- 
crimination. Hideous colored pictures and charts, 
inaccurate in detail and form, even as to the facts 
they portray, have done serious injury to the reli- 
gious ideas of children. Inexpensive copies of 



'^Pictures in the Religions Education, Frederica Beard. 

93 



94 Methods for Primary Teachers 

great paintings are easily obtained. Study these. 
Become familiar with their history and meaning. 

The Public Library is a source of information 
along this line and many excellent books interpret- 
ing pictures have been written. 2 Our study just 
now is concerned with the use of pictures in the 
Primary Department. 

Pictures in relation to worship.— A picture which 
presents individuals or groups of people in the act 
of worship tends to produce in those who see it a 
desire for the same experience. There are two out- 
standing examples of this : "The Angelus," by Mil- 
let, and "The Child Samuel/' by Reynolds. There 
are also modern pictures showing children giving 
thanks for food or praying at the mother's knee, 
which awaken associations in the minds of all who 
see them. It is to be questioned if any Primary 
Department room is complete without some picture 
indicative of worship. In Lesson II we said that 
the room should be conducive to worship and work. 
Nothing can so truly produce a worshipful atmos- 
phere as a picture which contains the very spirit of 
worship. 

Pictures in relation to appreciation. — There are 
some common things with which we are in daily 
touch but never see with the eye of appreciation. 
Flecks of sunlight on a shaded road or street, the 
joys of the evening home-going, lights. gleaming in 
windows, a child reading a storybook, and a host 
of other things become beautiful and significant in 
the hands of an artist with brush or camera. Pic- 



2 For example, The Gospel in Art, Albert Edward Bailey. 



The Use op Pictures 95 

tures of this sort may be designated as topical and 
seasonal, and they have their place in the Primary 
Department room and program. 

Pictures in relation to instruction. — This relation 
is fourfold: (1) to create a sense of reality — the 
feeling that it actually happened ; (2) to make clear 
the essential facts and local color in a story and 
thus avoid or correct false impressions; (3) to 
deepen the impression and fix it; (4) to allow ex- 
pression on the part of the children through choice 
and arrangement of pictures and conversation con- 
cerning them. These four relationships are not 
steps in a process but each one involves all the 
others. 

Pictures whose principal aim is instruction are 
chiefly used in the class period and the method will 
be discussed in that connection (Lesson X). But 
they also have their place in the department pro- 
gram, such as in the teaching of new songs, the 
telling of missionary stories, and other forms of 
instruction. 

The significance of any picture is enriched by 
relating it to other things — a song, a Bible verse, 
a story, or some experience. In this, as in all mat- 
ters of education, the more connections we estab- 
lish the greater value each thing has. 

Objects, such as an oriental house, sheepfold, or 
tents usually have their place in the class group, 
though they may sometimes be used in the entire 
department, preferably in the pre-session period 
when the children may gather informally about 



96 Methods for Primary Teachers 

them. Their relation to instruction is the same as 
that of pictures. 

Pictures in relation to the children. — It ought to 
go without saying that a picture should be placed 
where it can be seen by the persons for whom it 
was intended, but this simple fact is ignored in 
many Primary Department rooms where pictures 
are hung in proportion to the height of the wall, 
or with regard to the location of cupboards and 
other furniture. Sometimes a picture out of eye 
range is simply ignored, but many times it produces 
absurd results, such as in the case of the Primary 
child who had looked at a copy of Taylor's "Nativ- 
ity" for some weeks and finally asked with a puz- 
zled air, "Are those really people and are they eat- 
ing out of a barrel?" The proper height for a pic- 
ture must be determined by the way in which it is 
to be used. If it is in the front of the room, to be 
seen when the children are seated in assembly, the 
front row being ten feet from the picture it may be 
placed at a higher level than when the picture is to 
be used at close range; in which case it must be 
placed at eye level of the children when seated. 
Pictures for department use should not be filled 
with small details, but should have outstanding fea- 
tures. 

Primary children are yet in that period of sense 
development when a thing is better understood if it 
can be touched. A picture or object which can be 
handled carries a more definite message to the chil- 
dren than one that is merely seen. A small picture 
must be handled or it means nothing. 



The Use of Pictures 97 

It has been well established that children prefer 
colored pictures, but that does not mean that color 
makes a picture suitable for children. It must have 
accuracy, form, and beauty in addition. An uncol- 
ored picture which has these other qualities is bet- 
ter than a colored picture lacking them, and large 
colored pictures which are correct are exceedingly 
expensive. Children also prefer pictures in which 
something is happening, rather than those which 
show only scenery. 

There must be plenty of time for them to see 
pictures, and it is a problem to provide this in the 
limited Sunday session. Groups of children may 
gather around a picture before the session and talk 
about it informally. A teacher should be one of the 
group, quietly directing the observation of the chil- 
dren, calling their attention to certain things in it, 
but not dominating the group. In fact, the ten- 
dency of children is to pass quickly from one pic- 
ture to another, looking at them in a very superficial 
way, unless they have some guidance and sugges- 
tion. For example, a dozen fine pictures from pho- 
tographs of Palestine had been cut from the 
National Geographic Magazine and mounted on 
cardboard. They were placed on a table in the 
Primary room and five children began looking at 
them. In about two minutes all the children had 
glanced at all the pictures and were demanding 
"something else/' A teacher sat down with them 
and began to talk about various things in the pic- 
tures. For fifteen minutes, or until the beginning 



98 Methods for Primary Teachers 

of the session, the group were interested in them 
and asked for them another Sunday. The training 
in concentration alone was valuable, and we cannot 
help feeling that the child of to-day is somewhat 
lacking in that quality. Perhaps you say, "But such 
well-informed teachers are not to be found every 
day." That particular teacher was interested, had 
read the magazine article which the pictures had 
illustrated, and knew the capacity of Primary chil- 
dren well enough to know what things would be 
of value to them. 

Too many pictures in the room or for use in class 
groups will produce confusion and hinder the im- 
agination more than they will aid it. There are 
times when a simple appeal to the imagination is 
stronger than any number of pictures embodying 
the facts of situations. Two or three topical or sea- 
sonal pictures on the wall of the department at one 
time are quite enough and one is sometimes more 
effective. 

Children will enjoy sharing in plans to secure 
pictures for the department. Their special gifts or 
money may be used for this purpose. In one de- 
partment they celebrated the birthday of the whole 
department, for some wise leader had remembered 
the day when the children had first been brought 
together in the Primary Department. The birth- 
day offerings which the children had* made during 
the year w r ere used at this time to make a birthday 
gift for the department room. In another case a 
child had been given at Christmas time a -beautiful 



The Use of Pictures 99 

picture for his room. He told the teacher and the 
children about it and it was suggested that perhaps 
he might lend it to the Primary Department for a 
month. The mother was consulted and the picture 
was brought, serving more than one purpose by 
being shared in this way. 

A personal love for pictures will be fostered still 
further if occasionally children are given smaller 
copies to take home. In one department in which 
Plockhorst's "J esus and the Children'' was much 
loved and hung upon the wall, the children were 
given at Christmas time a small copy neatly 
mounted. 

The care of pictures. — In every room there should 
be one or two well-framed pictures properly placed 
as to light, and left permanently in their places. 

By far the larger number of pictures used in the 
department will be of a temporary nature, two or 
three being used at a time as suggested. They 
should be taken down and put away at the close of 
the session, even though they are to be used several 
Sundays in succession. Such pictures are to be 
found on the covers of magazines and as illustra- 
tions. They should be neatly trimmed, a small 
white edge being left, unless the picture has a dark 
line around it. The mounting should be very in- 
conspicuous, and this effect (or lack of any effect) 
is produced by having all the pictures mounted on 
the same kind of cardboard. Paper pulp, heavy 
manila tag or other inexpensive cardboard may be 
used or heavy cover paper in a medium brown 



100 Methods for Primary Teachers 

shade. If all the mounts are of the same size they 
can be more conveniently filed and the pictures can 
be grouped better on the wall. 

The filing drawer may be built in the department 
cupboard, a file such as is used in libraries may be 
provided, or a special box used for this purpose. 
The pictures should be filed on edge, not laid flat 
in drawers, for they are more easily accessible in 
the former case and less likely to be torn in han- 
dling. Each picture should be labeled or numbered 
and they should be placed in the file according to 
some plan either topical or seasonal ; for example, 
putting all winter pictures together, and all Thanks- 
giving pictures. 

It is an excellent plan to have a special meeting 
of teachers and all prospective teachers, at which 
time pictures from various sources may be brought, 
suitable ones selected, mounted, and left for use. 
Small pictures for handling should be assembled 
according to subject and put together in large en- 
velopes. It is better to have a small carefully 
selected collection of pictures than an elaborate 
one in which no discrimination has been exercised. 

Questions 

1. What is the theory underlying the use of pic- 
tures ? 

2. What should govern the choice of pictures? 

3. What relation have pictures to worship? Give 
examples. 

4. What is the purpose of topical and seasonal pic- 
tures ? 



The: Use of Pictures 101 

5. What place have pictures in instruction? 

6. How may appreciation of a picture be enriched? 

7. Describe the correct placing of a picture. 

8. What are the tests of a picture from a child's 
point of view? 

9. What is necessary in the way of time and adult 
assistance? 

10. What will be the result of too many pictures? 

11. What personal relations may the children have 
with pictures in the Primary room? 

12. Describe the proper care of pictures. 

13. How may small pictures be used and cared for? 

14. How would you go about securing a suitable 
collection of pictures? 



LESSON X 

THE LESSON PERIOD 

The class group. — By the lesson period is meant 
that part of the session when the children are gath- 
ered in groups, each having its own teacher, who 
uses the lesson material designed for that particular 
group. This division makes it possible to suit the 
methods and materials of teaching to that partic- 
ular age, making the marked distinction that is nec- 
essary between the capacity of six-year-old children 
and those who are eight. 

This arrangement also permits closer contact be- 
tween teacher and pupils, and insures personal at- 
tention for each child, not only during the lesson 
period but in the preparation of the lesson, for it 
must be continually kept in mind that "we are 
teaching pupils, not lessons." A lesson that is 
planned without the life situations of individual pu- 
pils in mind will never become a lesson in the true 
meaning of the word. 

This small teaching group also gives each pupil 
an opportunity for freedom of expression that he 
would not have if he were one of a larger group. 
In fact, it is only the children with most initiative, 
the "forward" children, who express themselves 
freely in the large group. Moreover, the small 
group makes it possible for a*variety of forms of 

102 



The Lesson Period 103 

expression to be used, thus meeting the needs of 
various types of children. 

Planning the lesson. — It has been said that "in 
the worship program the pupils acquire attitudes ; 
in the class instruction they acquire knowledge/' 
In general terms this is true, although it is also 
true that there is the element of instruction related 
to worship and that definite attitudes and behavior 
grow out of class instruction. 

When the teacher has become familiar with the 
course of study for the Primary Department and 
the aims underlying that, she can then see each les- 
son as a part of that plan. Since these aims are 
based upon the pupils' needs, she has before her 
the problem of studying, arranging, and developing 
the particular lesson material in a way that will ac- 
complish that portion of the aim for which that 
material was chosen, taking into account, also, the 
personal variations of the pupils she teaches. This 
means more than simply following the teachers' 
quarterly or text-book, although valuable material 
will be found there. Probably the inexperienced 
teacher will be most likely to develop right habits 
of preparation and teaching if she follows this text- 
book in detail in the beginning, modifying her plan 
as experience guides her. 

One thing is sure — no lesson will ever be taught 
successfully that is not the result of thoughtful 
planning on the part of the one who is to teach it- 
Nothing else produces that real enthusiasm that is 
absolutely essential to give "carrying power" to an 



104 Methods for Primary Teachers 

idea. You cannot share with another what you do 
not really possess. Let us honestly admit that one 
reason why children do not learn more in the Pri- 
mary Department is that their teachers know too 
little and are not sure of that ! 

A lesson must be studied thoroughly by the 
teacher, every detail made clear in her own mind 
through reference and investigation, and then the 
carefully selected materials must be planned, or- 
ganized, and written at least in outline. You may 
not need to use notes, but you need to make them 
for the sake of fixing in your own mind the out- 
standing features of the lesson and the steps toward 
your aim. 

The length of the lesson period. — "The value of 
distributed, rather than continuous periods of learn- 
ing, is obviously important in the case of young 
children, because of the characteristics of their at- 
tention. . . . Because of his want of experience 
and knowledge the child has few associations in 
connection with any one situation ; he sees but few 
possibilities, . . . nor can he continue to attend 
to it very long before he comes to the end of his 
material. If there are other factors which serve as 
interferences (and there often are) — fatigue, need 
to inhibit other impulses, physical discomfort — the 
lack of concentration and the wandering of the at- 
tention are both increased. ,n 

Our more common observation will reveal the 
fact that a child's behavior and response during the 



1 j^sycIwlogy of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



The: Lesson Period 105 

lesson period is a matter of his ability to exercise 
physical and mental self-control. Investigation has 
established the fact that "children from five to ten 
cannot sit motionless for more than one minute and 
a half/' 2 Of course it is not necessary for Primary 
children to be motionless during the lesson period, 
but a certain degree of physical self-control is al- 
ways involved in the class period. 

All of the facts make it evident that the thirty or 
thirty-five minutes allowed for class work in the 
Primary Department session should either be di- 
vided into two parts, separated by other parts of 
the program, or divided into two parts by a com- 
plete change of methods and position. By referring 
to Lesson V the time schedule for the session will 
show the two plans. If the passing from class 
groups to department assembly is easily done, so 
that not a large amount of time will be lost, the 
two period plan is better. This is especially the 
case when the class groups are formed in the same 
room as the assembly. 

The two periods, separated by the general exer- 
cises of the department, not only provide for a 
change of position and interest, but make possible 
"cross-associations, wider range of relationships, 
and recall at longer intervals." 3 Thus the ideas and 
attitudes of worship, the common interests and ac- 
tivities of the department, will enrich the ideas and 
facts of the lesson period. 



-ibid. 

3 Ibid. 



106 Methods for Primary T^achsrs 

When this separation of the lesson period into two 
parts is not possible, the arrangement of the lesson 
plan must permit a complete change of position at 
least once. The children may stand around the ta- 
ble for some part of their work, such as the recita- 
tion of their memory verses. The changing of cen- 
ters of interest is not enough, there must be a 
physical as well as a mental change. 

Sequence of the lesson plan. — This will vary ac- 
cording to the kind of lesson. Starting with this 
order, we can see how it will be modified : marking 
pupils' credits, five minutes ; recitation or expres- 
sion, ten minutes; new story, culminating in the 
memory verse, prayer or other appropriate manner, 
ten or twelve minutes ; and explanation of home 
work, five minutes. In the two-period plan the first 
two items will be included in the first period, the 
last two in the second period. In the one-period 
plan, the transition or change will be provided for 
before the new story. 

The marking of the pupils' credits can be par- 
tially cared for before the session, if the teacher 
wishes to use the time in that w r ay. The form and 
method of credits will be discussed more fully in 
Lesson XIII. It is sufficient to say here that the 
teacher will be deeply interested in this part of the 
lesson period and not treat it as a matter of business 
to be hurried through as rapidly as possible. Treat 
it seriously, be orderly and systematic, and yet see 
beyond the mere record, to the child's capacity and 
achievement. 



The Lesson Period 107 

The recitation or expression period is the time 
when the children recall former lessons and experi- 
ences. It is more than a testing of knowledge ; it is 
the means of fixing and of association. It gives new 
value to old ideas and makes possible the acquiring 
of new ones. The methods and forms of expression 
will be dealt with in the next lesson in this study. 

The heart of the lesson period is the story. The 
method of telling it is the subject of an entire unit 
in this Teacher-Training Course. At this time we 
can only study its place in the lesson period. Since 
it is our purpose to have this story and the truth it 
embodies carried into the world in which the pupils 
live, work, and play, it will usually be best to have 
it come near the close of the period, allowing only 
enough time for the full development of the idea 
and the fixing of it in the minds and feeling of the 
pupils. If the story is told early in the lesson pe- 
riod, its effect is likely to be scattered or marred 
by too much elaboration, or the introduction of un- 
related material. It is deftness and skill we need, 
not an extended period of time for elaboration. Usu- 
ally the comments, reiteration, and general talka- 
tiveness in which we indulge, tends to weaken the 
effect of the story. If properly told, it carries its 
own message better than our efforts of interpre- 
tation. 

The place of the story, memory verse, and other 
parts of the lesson plan, will depend upon the par- 
ticular method being used. In teaching children of 
Primary age, there are three methods used, chiefly 



108 Methods for Primary Teachers 

— the inductive, the deductive, and the review or 
recall. In the first method we begin with some 
problem in the pupils' experience and lead them 
into a fuller knowledge of the situation, which will 
enable them to reach a conclusion. Sometimes this 
conclusion is expressed in the memory verse, but 
we must be careful that w r e do not substitute a for- 
mal statement for the pupils' own thought. "There 
is very great danger if definitions or generalizations 
are given ready-made to the children, that they will 
learn to juggle with words. . . . One can never 
be quite sure that the child has solved his problem 
until he finds himself able to state clearly the re- 
sults of his thinking." 1 It is easily possible for a 
child to recite memory verses very glibly and yet not 
understand or mean a word he says. It will quite 
readily be seen that the meaning which the memory 
verse has for the pupils will depend upon the devel- 
opment of the lesson which, in turn, depends upon 
its relation to the pupils' experience. In other 
words, the inductive method includes (1) the recall 
of experience ; (2) the realization of the problem ; 
(3) the development of new ideas, such as the ex-, 
periences of others told in story form ; (4) the state- 
ment of a conclusion reached in the light of these 
new ideas. 

As an illustration we might think of the lesson of 
trustfulness contained in the story "Peter Bravely 
Doing His Work." Even these small boys and girls 
have had experience in choosing between doing the 



1 A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, by Strayer. 



The Lesson Period 109 

thing that was right or the thing that would be 
easiest and most comfortable for them. These ex- 
periences can be recalled and discussed ; then the 
story of how one man bravely did what was right 
in spite of the danger to himself. Perhaps the mem- 
ory verse, "We must obey God rather than men," 
will enable the children to express their conviction, 
but it will be better for the children to express the 
idea spontaneously in their own words before the 
formal language of the memory verse is taught. 

In the deductive method we begin with a state- 
ment and proceed to look at it in the light of experi- 
ence, our own and that of others, and thus verify the 
statement. For example, "Blessed are the peace- 
makers'' is a statement which can be made real to 
the children by having the light of experience shed 
upon it : the children's experience, Abraham's expe- 
rience; until they can say indeed, ''You are hap- 
pier when you help folks to make up and be kind." 
They would more often reach these conclusions if 
they w r ere given suitable opportunities. "Children 
would do much more thinking if we were only more 
careful to give them childish problems to solve." 1 

It must not be forgotten that there are lessons in 
which the aim is one of appreciation rather than 
conduct, and there are occasions when the spiritual 
value of the lesson would be decreased rather than 
deepened through any statement made by the chil- 
dren. 

There is also the review or recall lesson, and in 



*A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, by Strayer. 



110 Methods for Primary Teachers 

that case the lesson plan does not include a new 
story, but the two periods are given to expression 
or recitation. 

The lesson picture may be used at various places, 
according to the kind of picture and lesson plan. 
The picture for the preceding Sunday may be 
shown in connection with the period of expression 
or recitation, for the purpose of recalling the for- 
mer story. The picture for the lesson of the day 
will most often be used at the conclusion of the new 
story, thus deepening the impression that has been 
made. Sometimes it may be used before the new 
story, especially if its character is such that it will 
tend to make clear the setting and details. But if 
the picture contains any essential event in the story, 
it should not be used at the beginning, for it would 
create confusion. Occasionally, but very rarely, 
there is a picture which may be used in the process 
of telling a story. "The Arrival of the Shepherds," 
by Lerolle, is such a picture, and might suitably be 
introduced when that point in the story is reached. 
In any of these instances the picture associated with 
the lesson, old or new, should not be in evidence 
until the time it is to be used. 

Handwork which is used for the purpose of illus- 
trating the story may also be used following the 
story, although a great deal of care must be exer- 
cised in this. The mere tracing or coloring or cut- 
ting out a design has little educational value. A 
child may follow the outline with a fair degree of 
accuracy and not see any meaning in what he does 



The Lesson Period 111 

or any connection with the lesson he is supposed to 
illustrate. Occasionally after a story has been told 
a small picture related to it may be given to each 
child, to be mounted and taken home. A pattern 
may be used in the same way, provided it is intelli- 
gently as well as spiritually related to the lesson. 
Handwork which is for the purpose of self-expres- 
sion should not immediately follow the story it is 
intended to express. The value of a story is de- 
creased if the pupils are called upon to immediately 
express it either by retelling or in handwork. 
"When seed is planted in the ground it must be let 
alone and given time to grow." 

If the circumstances are at all favorable, a brief 
prayer by the teacher may be offered in the class 
group. Sometimes when old stories and experi- 
ences have been recalled, it is very natural to thank 
the heavenly Father for his goodness. Frequently 
the new story will stimulate the same desire. Or, 
perhaps, we feel the need of asking him to help us 
do the things that the story has made us wish to do. 
The informality and close contact of the class group 
make prayer very real and definite. 

The last three or five minutes of the lesson period 
should be given to a clear assignment of whatever you 
wish the pupils to do during the week. There is a 
general feeling of dissatisfaction with the amount 
and kind of home work done. No small amount of 
this is due to our lack of definiteness in assigning, 
perhaps even in knowing what we wish to have 
done. The "home work" for the younger pupils 



112 Methods for Primary Teachers 

may be very simple indeed and may consist of ask- 
ing some one to read the story to them and to help 
them learn the memory verse. The older pupils 
may have some simple handwork, and the eight- 
year-old children will read their own story. Of course 
the element of home cooperation is an important factor 
which will be studied later in this course ; but the 
first essential is to create an interest on the part of 
the children and the desire to do it. 

Usually this home work centers in the pupil's 
paper and any material related to that. Each week 
the teacher should secure from the secretary's desk 
or cabinet, when she comes in, the papers to be 
given that day. This paper will contain the story 
and memory verse for that day's lessons, not for the 
next Sunday. At the same time the secretary 
should provide the teacher with a copy of the paper 
for the next Sunday so that she may become famil- 
iar with the material in advance of the children, do- 
ing whatever they are to be asked to do. The papers 
should be kept out of the way until the last part 
of the lesson period. When they are given to the 
pupils, the teacher should call attention to the story, 
picture, verse, and any suggestions that may be 
there. She can do this intelligently and in an inter- 
esting way only when she has previously become 
familiar with every detail. It is an excellent plan 
and a very practical one to provide the children 
with a book cover to be used in carrying the papers 
back and forth. Each week the new paper is added, 
the children themselves being able to do this, par- 
ticularly if brass paper fasteners are used, as these 



The Lesson Period 113 

are easily opened and the new paper inserted. A 
manila envelope is an aid in keeping the book clean. 
This method attaches importance to the paper, 
which will be reflected in the pupils' attitude. Chil- 
dren of Primary age delight in reaching the stage 
in their public school work when they "have a 
book." 

Thus a wide range of materials and methods must 
be taken into account in planning a lesson. The 
teaching process becomes much more interesting to 
the teacher and worth while to the pupils, when the 
lesson period is carefully planned. 

Questions 

1. What is the advantage of the small group for 
teaching purposes? 

2. Describe the process of lesson planning. 

3. What shall determine the length of the lesson 
period? 

4. How may it be divided and what principles are 
involved ? 

5. What enters into the lesson period and in what 
order? 

6. Where should the story come in the lesson pe- 
riod? 

7. Describe the inductive method of developing the 
lesson truth. 

8. Give an illustration of the deductive process. 

9. Name two other kinds of lessons. 

10. When may the lesson picture be used and what 
will determine its place? 

11. What kind of handwork may follow the lesson 
story? What kind should not and why? 

12. How may prayer enter into the lesson period? 



114 Methods for Primary Teachers 

Assignment for Observation 

Your observation work up to this time has been 
concerned with department administration and rela- 
tionships. You are now to begin a first-hand study 
of the class group and of teaching methods. Fol- 
lowing this lesson on "The Lesson Period/ ' prepare 
observation sheets in the same manner as used in con- 
nection with Lessons II, V, and VIII. This first ob- 
servation of class work will deal only with the general 
plan and conditions. Plan to observe the same class 
in connection with the next assignment also. Re- 
member that you are not to use your blank or any 
paper and pencil while you are present with the class 
you are observing. Write your findings out fully very 
soon after you have finished your observation. 

1. How many pupils were in the class you observed? 
Boys or girls? Age? 

2. Under what conditions was the class work done? 
Give size of space, whether it was a separate room or 
a screened space. Was there a table and suitable 
chairs? What working materials did the teacher 
have ? The pupils ? 

3. Were teacher and pupils together before the ses- 
sion ? 

4. How long was the class period? 

5. Write out the order of proceeding, giving a gen- 
eral outline of the lesson as taught. 

6. Was the method inductive, deductive, or review? 
What steps indicated this? 

7. When did the children show greatest interest? 
How did they give evidence of this? 

8. When did they show the least interest? 

9. Was any of the time wasted? 



The Lesson Period 115 

10. What share did the children have in the lesson 
development ? 

11. What do you think was accomplished? 

12. How were the papers given to the pupils? 

13. Were the children given any assignment or sug- 
gestion of outside work ? 



LESSON XI 

LESSON EXPRESSION 

There are three forms of lesson expression : oral, 
which includes retold stories, answers to questions, 
informal conversation ; manual, which includes 
handwork and the handling of objects and pictures; 
conduct, both in the session and in the home, school 
and play life. 

In the lesson period. — In Lesson IX we studied 
a general outline of the lesson period, which, how- 
ever, may be modified and changed to suit the type 
of lesson or the pupils' interests. Usually there will 
be a period of expression or recitation, and this part 
of the lesson period should be as carefully planned 
by the teacher as the story or anything that she 
herself is to do. Perhaps the pupils' response will 
make it wise to change the form of expression that 
had been planned, but the time and thought neces- 
sary to make the plan will have been well spent, for 
it will enable the teacher to measure and test the 
capacity and interests of the pupils. 

In making the lesson plan, the teacher will ask 
herself: "What essential things out of the last les- 
son or group of lessons should be recalled?" "What 
form of expression will ofifer the children the best 
means of recalling them?" "What response can be 
reasonably expected?'' The answer to these three 
questions will determine the plan for the recitation 
portion of the lesson period. 

116 



Lesson Expression 117 

Oral expression. — This is the form of expression 
used most extensively in religious education, and the 
wisdom of this is open to question. Perhaps it is 
due to this widespread practice that religion has 
sometimes become too much a matter of what one 
says rather than what one does. The Christian 
world is coming to realize more fully the meaning 
of Christ when he said, "Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
who is in heaven." 

Perhaps the best form of oral expression is the 
retold story, for that usually has completeness and 
reveals the child's ideas and real attitude. But the 
motive for retelling must not be that of mere repeti- 
tion for the sake of seeing if the child knows the 
story. It should be retold for the pleasure and 
satisfaction of hearing it again, or "for Mary, who 
was not here last week," or for the sake of some- 
thing special w T hich you wish the children to note. 

A certain degree of accuracy in the details of a 
story should be required. Children of this age are 
interested in the names of things and persons. The 
teacher should be clear and accurate in her own 
story-telling and correct the children's mistakes 
when they occur. If Jacob is the man in the story, 
he should not be referred to as "the man" or some 
times confused with Joseph or some other person 
about whom, the children have heard. Stories 
should not be burdened with too many names of 
places and persons, but those that are necessary 



118 Methods for Primary Teachers 

should be correctly used by both teacher and pupils. 
Of course the events of the story should be ac- 
curately retold by the children, but we must be care- 
ful that we do not insist upon a parrotlike repetition, 
which reproduces the letter of the story but kills 
the spirit. Sometimes the child's own descriptions 
and interpretation of events will reveal the heart of 
that story's message to him. 

It is usually best to allow- a child to complete the 
story he is telling and then talk over the errors 
with him, and with the rest of the class. Sometimes 
the mistakes in names should be corrected when they 
are made, and occasionally the child's conception of 
the story is entirely wrong, in which case he should 
be courteously stopped and some other child al- 
lowed to tell the story. 

It is impossible for each child to retell a story 
every Sunday, but in the course of three months each 
one may have an opportunity, if the pre-session 
period is sometimes used in this way. Care must 
be exercised that the bright, free-spoken child does 
not monopolize this form of expression, for the 
quiet, reserved child needs this development. 

Free and spontaneous conversation is another 
form of oral expression. In this way the children 
may recall experiences, express opinions, and in- 
formally talk about things in which they are inter- 
ested. Sometimes we call this "interruptions" but 
the true teacher is the one who can see behind the 
thing the child says to the association of ideas which 
prompted it. She understands and sympathizes, and 



Lesson Expression 119 

skillfully adjusts her lesson plan. If informal con- 
versation is the method of expression the teacher 
decides to use in a lesson period, great care must 
be used in securing it from the children. Emulation 
is a dangerous factor to be introduced and soon be- 
comes bragging. Children like to produce effects 
and astonishment. This causes them to be inac- 
curate and to tell things that did not actually occur. 
It is said that this inaccuracy is also due to "length 
of time elapsing between the occurrence and the 
number of times the incident has been described. " x 
Another cause is the "excessive suggestibility" of chil- 
dren. The children stimulate each other, and marvel- 
ous experiences are related. This is due to the nature 
of the child and must not lead us to underestimate his 
sincerity. We can safeguard the situation by ignoring 
things told for effect, and suggesting lines of conversa- 
tion that do not encourage boastfulness. Examples of 
this cannot be given in a text-book. Real children and 
situations will give ample opportunity for testing this 
principle. 

Answering questions is the time-honored form of 
oral expression from the days of the "infant class" 
to the present. It is the poorest way to find out 
what a child really knows or thinks. "The danger 
of using questions with young children to get at the 
truth of an occurrence is evident; every question 
contains a suggestion ; and * * * when the children 
are so suggestible it is almost impossible for them 
to withstand the force of the suggestion offered." 



psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley, 



120 Methods for Primary Teachers 

Other kinds of questions which do not contain sug- 
gestions must be used with great care. Questions 
which can be answered by "Yes" or "No" are nearly 
always valueless. Fact questions, such as, "Who 
was our lesson about?" "Where did Moses go 
then?" do not aid in the development of a lesson. 
Questions which call forth whole ideas may be used 
in lesson expression, but even these should be used 
in moderation. They have the largest usefulness in 
review lessons. As in the case of recalling the story 
"The Children's Praise Song," a question such as 
"How did the children make Jesus' heart glad one 
day when he was on earth?" would naturally bring 
forth a brief account of the incident. If a child an- 
swers a question thoughtlessly, ask it again, or ap- 
proach it from a slightly different point of view. 
Sometimes our questions are not clear. "We must 
also remember that the inability of children to keep 
their attention to the point in question, is illustrated 
by their tendency to take the first idea that offers 
itself irrespective of its bearing on the problem." 1 
Who is not familiar with the famous Sunday school 
answer, "Be good"? This does not mean that we 
are not to use questions, but that we will be very 
careful in our choice and use of them. We will cer- 
tainly not feel satisfied with the results of our teach- 
ing merely because the pupils are able to answer 
certain questions. 

The recalling of memory verses may also be an 
excellent form of oral expression, provided they are 



^Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



Lesson Expression 121 

related in the pupil's mind and response to some 
actual experience or feeling. To recite "What time 
I am afraid I will put my trust in thee" may be 
simply a repetition of words, or it may express 
the pupil's real attitude when recalled in connection 
with an experience. This depends upon the teach- 
er's way of calling for the verse. To ask for last 
Sunday's memory verse is mechanical ; to ask for the 
verse that tells us what to do when we are alone, or 
in the dark, will relate the verse to life. 

Handwork. — "A child will probably forget what 
he hears ; he may forget what he has seen ; but he 
will not forget what he has done." When we have 
brought to bear upon any idea the use of eyes, ears, 
and hands, with the mind and feelings centered 
upon the doing of some definite piece of work, we 
have woven that idea into the very fiber of the 
child's life. 

We must also take into account the temperaments 
of various children. Every group will have some 
who are the "doing" kind, and others who are the 
"telling" sort. The latter will. invariably and natu- 
rally express in language the things they see, or 
hear, or think. How their eyes sparkle and their 
words fall over each other ! Or, perhaps, they are 
wordy, inclined to be prosy, and given to long- 
drawn-out accounts. But talk they will, if given 
the slightest opportunity. On the other hand, the 
"doing" child does not easily express himself in 
words. He reproduces in play and work the ideas 
that come to him ; in other words, activity is his 



122 Methods for Primary Teachers 

way of expression. If we provide opportunities for 
only one kind of expression, we will not be giving 
this type of child a fair chance of expression. Not 
only is this true, but the "telling" child needs to be 
helped into other forms of expression, that his ideas 
and disposition may have a fuller development ; as 
the "doing" child in turn needs to be stimulated into 
an ability to tell what he knows and feels. 

Handwork in the Primary Department must be 
very simple. Free-hand drawing, paper-tearing and 
folding, the choice and arrangement of pictures are 
examples of the forms that may be used. For ex- 
ample, after the children of a certain class have had 
a number of stories of "God's Good Gifts" they may 
be given an opportunity in a later lesson period to 
express this idea in terms of experience. The teacher 
may give to each child a piece of paper about six 
by eight inches in size on which the memory verse 
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from 
above," has been written. Even six-year-old chil- 
dren who cannot read appreciate having in written 
or printed form copies of statements with which 
they are familiar. After the verse has been recalled 
and talked about informally, place before the chil- 
dren a number of pictures of things in their every- 
day experiences, such as food, clothing, homes. 
These may be found in large quantities in any 
magazine. Each child may choose one picture to 
illustrate the verse, pasting this on the paper given 
him ; or these pictures may be pasted in a scrapbook 
or upon a sheet of mounting paper, the whole class 



Lesson Expression 123 

working together to produce the finished page or 
poster. Thus the valuable element of cooperation 
is introduced. 

Sometimes the children may be given drawing 
paper and pencils, and may "tell the story with a 
picture instead of with your lips.^ It is usually 
better to have the children reproduce in their draw- 
ing some relationship of the lesson to everyday 
life rather than a fact from the lesson material. In 
expressing the lesson, "Joseph's Care for His 
Father/' it would be better to have the children 
reproduce in handwork something that they them- 
selves can do for their fathers rather than to at- 
tempt a reproduction of any of the details of the 
story. In expressing the lesson, "Keeping the 
Lord's Day," the children may by paper-tearing or 
folding express in concrete form the things they do 
on that day : the church, the book they read to little 
brother, the flower they took to a sick friend. These 
paper objects may be pasted on gray or brown 
mounting paper. The writing of memory verses or 
stories as a means of expression by eight-year-old 
children depends upon their degree of skill. If they 
are still in that stage of development when their 
minds must be occupied with the process of writing, 
the actual forming of the letters, it is a hindrance 
to expression. The mind must be free to think or 
the pupil cannot use writing to express thought. 

In any of these kinds of handwork do not give the 
pupils paper that is too small. They have not yet 
the control of muscles necessary to finer movements 



124 Methods for Primary Teachers 

and adjustments. Six by nine inches is the smallest 
size that should be used for drawing, tearing, or 
cutting. 

In all handwork that is to serve as a means of 
self-expression, there must be freedom of choice. 
Patterns and designs that are prepared or dictated 
by the teacher are not expression for the pupil. 

This freedom of choice in lesson expression in- 
volves originality, of which some children do not 
have a large degree. If a child chooses to do what 
some other child in the group has done, this may be 
the extent of his capacity for choice and originality. 
He should be encouraged in all his work, special 
approval being given to any evidence of his own 
thought expressed in his work. 

It is not art we are striving for, but the expres- 
sion of an idea. Therefore the pupils' handwork 
should not be used to decorate the room or kept for 
future use. Children of this age develop rapidly and 
imagine that they progress even faster than they do. 
A child of seven who saw a piece of work he had 
done six weeks before, said: "Pooh, that old thing! 
I did that when I was just a baby I" 

There is, however, a form of handw r ork which is 
decorative, and which is also expression. Making a 
Christmas or Easter booklet for a mother or a friend, 
or some design to be used in making the room beau- 
tiful, is a means of expressing love and the desire 
to serve. Such handwork can usually be done to 
best advantage in the pre-session period. However, 
in the expression of lessons of love and service for 



Lesson Expression 125 

God's house, or for our friends, or for strangers, 
these decorative objects may be a means of self- 
expression. 

But freedom in choice and form of expression does 
not mean that the teacher will make no suggestions. 
In fact, the pupil "should know very definitely what 
he is to look for or to do if results worth while are 
to be obtained. " 1 The teacher should be very clear 
and definite in her suggestions to the pupils. "You 
may draw pictures of things you saw on the way to 
church this morning that show us the heavenly 
Father's love and power," will tell the pupils what 
they are to do and yet permit freedom of expression. 

Materials must be given to the children without 
confusion. Pencils, papers, and other things to be 
used should be ready in the teacher's box of mate- 
rials, and the orderly passing of such things will be 
directed by her. 

Not every lesson can be expressed in handwork. 
When the events are to produce awe and wonder, 
or when simple appreciation is the aim, handwork 
will be more likely to hinder than help. When any 
child refuses to participate in handwork do not force 
him to do so. The results would certainly not be 
self-expression for him. If such a refusal is due to 
a lack of cooperation, ignore it; if it is due to an 
inability on the part of the child, give him additional 
help; if it is a case of absolute dislike of the work, 
give him an opportunity for some other form of ex- 
pression. 



1 PsycJwlogy of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



126 Methods for Primary Teachers 

Expression in conduct. — All other forms of ex- 
pression are merely steps in the direction of this 
ideal. Retelling or recalling stories and memory 
verses, conversation, relating experiences, hand- 
work, — all these simply deepen his feeling until they 
result in conduct. There are opportunities for this 
form of expression in the Sunday session, in the 
child's relationships with teachers, other children 
and his behavior in God's house. (Refer to Lesson 
III on "The Child in the Room.") But the larger 
part of this conduct will occur in school, home, and 
play relationships. We must have a clear idea of a 
standard of conduct for a Primary child and the 
actual situation in which he finds himself. This will 
be the subject of our next study. 

Questions 

1. Name the forms of lesson expression and what 
they include. 

2. What will determine the form used in a lesson? 

3. Describe the retold story method as to motive, ac- 
curacy, and other elements. 

4. How may informal conversation be used as a 
means of lesson expression? How may it be directed 
and safeguarded? 

5. What are the dangers of the question method of 
securing expression? How may it be used? 

6. Why has handwork a place in lesson expression ? 

7. What kinds may be used ? 

8. What place has choice, originality, imitation? 

9. What limitations are there to the use of hand- 
work? 

10. What relation have these forms of expression to 
conduct ? 



Lesson Expression 127 

Assignment for Observation 

This is a continuation of the observation of the class 
group which you began following the last lesson. Visit 
the same group unless there is some very good reason 
why it would be more profitable to observe another. 
Follow the same plan in the preparation of your blank 
and in writing your findings soon after the observa- 
tion. You will notice that the numbers continue those 
for the last lesson. 

14. What form of expression was used? 

15. How was it introduced by the teacher? 

16. What was the motive suggested? 

17. Describe the participation of the children. 

18. If a retold story is given, note its completeness, 
accuracy, and the evident attitude of the child. 

19. If there was informal conversation, note the 
value of what the child said (in relation to the sub- 
ject in question) and whether or not there seemed to 
be a tendency to boast. 

20. If the question method was used, what kind of 
answers did the children give? Was the question 
worth while? 

21. How was the memory verse recalled? 

22. If there was handwork, state what kind, how 
much freedom the child had, and whether he was 
interested in the process or in the idea. 

23. What indication was there, or suggestion, that 
the lesson would result in any specific conduct or serv- 
ice on the part of the child? 

24. What improvement in the form of lesson ma- 
terial or in the manner of using it would you suggest? 



LESSON XII 

THE CHILD DURING THE WEEK 

"Religion is not a matter of churchgoing, listen- 
ing to prayers, and sermons; these are the privileges 
of a religious life; but religion itself is the spirit 
that permeates these things and projects itself into 
life." 

Misunderstanding. — Everywhere about us there 
are evidences of the fact that grown people com- 
monly misunderstand children with whom they 
have frequent and even daily contact. The fact of 
the matter is that a great many children do not 
expect to be understood. By the time they are six 
or seven years old they have accepted with a certain 
philosophical calm the fact that the ways of grown- 
ups are /past understanding and the wisest thing is 
to keep from arousing either their curiosity or their 
wrath. Of course, there are many instances of real 
companionship between adults and children and the 
child who is thus understood grows naturally and 
beautifully as a flower unfolds in the light of the 
sun. 

In our busy workaday lives we do not take the 
time for thought that will enable us to really see 
and know what is happening in the child's world. 
Have you never surprised that look in a child's face 
which showed clearly that we did not understand 
the situation in the case where we were bestowing 

128 



The Child During the Week 129 

our commendation or administering a reproof? If 
they were given to that kind of humorous appreci- 
ation, children would often laugh in their small 
sleeves at the misplaced approval we give, and they 
are often justified in resentment at our unjust dis- 
approval. As it is, they simply wonder. Aside from 
the need of understanding when critical relation- 
ships arise, there is a vast need for understanding 
the everyday experiences of boys and girls if we are 
to teach them or help them. 

In relation to our teaching. — If we will review 
even casually the process of planning and teaching 
a lesson it will become very evident that every step 
of the way we must be thoroughly familiar with the 
week-day lives of the individual children that we 
teach. It is not enough to know the characteristics 
common to children of this age. We must know the 
particular combination of characteristics which each 
child has and the environment in which he lives, 
works, and plays. If our teaching sounds far away 
and indefinite, if, we are given to generalizations, the 
pupils soon know that we do not really understand, 
and they do not take seriously the things we say. 

Let us see the points at which this knowledge of 
the pupils' lives is essential. Within the aim for a 
group of lessons there is an aim for each particular 
lesson; but, further than that, within the aim for 
the lesson there is a specific aim which the teacher 
has in mind when planning a lesson. The needs of 
her own group of children should be before her 
So, in the choice of a lesson aim we must know thf 



130 Methods for Primary Teachers 

experiences as well as the characteristics out of 
which these needs grow. Next, in planning the 
story itself, our points of emphasis and the things 
we elaborate depend upon the background of ex- 
perience that the children have. Again, if we are 
to use any comparison or illustrations at any time 
in the lesson, we must be sure of the vocabulary of 
the pupils and the objects with which they are 
familiar. Our choice of handwork will depend upon 
the interest and ability of the pupils. Last and most 
important, any suggestions we may make as to 
week day activities or expression in conduct, will 
depend entirely upon our knowledge of the situa- 
tions in which the pupil must carry out these things. 
We cannot teach the Bible lesson of trustworthiness 
unless we know the opportunities that the pupils 
have for being true to trust. 

What we must know. — First of all, we must 
know each child's home. We must know his mother, 
her attitude toward the child, whether she does the 
work of the household or has servants to do it, what 
her interests are outside of the home, whether it is 
a home in which strict economy must be practiced 
or one in which there is extravagance. If there is 
no mother, we must know who is in her place. The 
manners, the customs, the form of discipline, the 
harsh voice or gracious speech — all these will help 
us to understand the child's disposition and attitude. 

We must know the father's occupation ; his inter- 
ests aside from making a living; his attitude toward 



The Child During the Week 131 

the child, whether one of leniency or interference or 
companionship. 

We should know what other people are in the 
home; if there is a grandmother, an aunt or some 
other relative, the ages of the other children if there 
are any. 

We need to know the interests around which the 
home centers ; what books and periodicals are to be 
found there ; if there is music of any kind in the 
home, or games ; what play equipment the child has. 

As regards the child's life in the public school we 
need to know his teacher personally ; what grade he 
is in, whether he is where he belongs according to 
age or is above or below grade ; what he likes best 
in school; the subjects in which he excels and 
those in which he is poor; his relationship with 
other children ; his outstanding characteristics in 
the opinion of his teacher. 

His play is that part of his life in which he is 
freest to do as he wishes. It is, therefore, the place 
in w r hich he is most likely to express his real atti- 
tudes and desires. For this reason it is the greatest 
test as well as the greatest opportunity for the ex- 
pression of his religious life. The way in which the 
child plays reveals his true character better than 
his behavior in church ! 

Concerning his play life we should know whether 
he plays with children his own age or with those 
who are older or younger. If he plays with those 
who are older, this may account for a certain lack 
of initiative ; if he plays with those who are younger, 



132 Methods for Primary Teachers 

it is quite natural for him to become "bossy" and 
later develop into a bully, unless he is directed into 
generous, kindly relationships. We need to know 
the games the children play in their neighborhood 
groups and on the school playground. By the time 
the children have reached the Primary age, each 
one has established a certain reputation for fairness, 
cheating, pouting, ingenuity, determination, or re- 
sourcefulness. This we must know, or we do not 
know the individual child. We need to know the 
places of commercialized amusements to which the 
children go, the kind of "movies" they frequent, and 
the range of their activities, whether they are lim- 
ited to the immediate neighborhood or include a 
wider field. 

Methods of investigation. — The task of finding 
these things is not as difficult as it might seem. The 
process will be something like this: (1) know what 
we wish to find out ; (2) call in the home and make 
the acquaintance of the mother; (3) engage in 
friendly, informal conversation with the child; (4) 
talk with the child's public-school teacher or, better 
still, visit his public-school grade; (5) become famil- 
iar with the community in which the child lives ; 
(6) keep a simple but accurate record of our in- 
vestigation. 

A standard of conduct. — In setting up a standard 
for the Primary Department it was agreed that 
"the standard for the Primary Department is that 
which is possible for a child to become during the 



The Child During the Week 133 

years of six, seven, and eight. What the child be- 
comes manifests itself in conduct. 

"1. Love, trust, reverence, and obedience to God 
the Father and Jesus Christ the Saviour. 

"2. Recognition of the heavenly Father in daily 
life. 

"3. Love for God through worship. 

"4. Love and reverence for God's book, God's 
day, and God's house. 

"5. Increasing power to act in response to ever- 
enlarging ideas of what is right and desirable. 

"6. Increasing spirit of obedience and helpfulness. 

"7. Increasing power to give love and forget self 
in social relations." 

Typical situations. — This standard is valuable to 
us only when we can interpret it in terms of a child's 
life. When we have become familiar with the 
facts concerning a child's home, school, and play 
life it is not difficult for us to think ourselves into 
his experiences and to look at things from his point 
of view. 

Referring to the second point in the Standard of 
Conduct given above, the child whose home is one 
of comfort and well-being may be expected as a 
result of his religious instruction to speak very 
naturally of his heavenly Father. When this child 
has come home from school, played outdoors strenu- 
ously, comes in to his supper, prepared for him and 
suited to make him well and strong; when he has 
books and games for his amusement in the evening 
and a father who spends some time with him, he 



134 Methods for Primary Teachers 

should be able to express in his own childish way 
his appreciation of these good gifts from the 
heavenly Father. 

These children are growing old enough to do 
errands in which they remember several items, go 
and return quickly, and can be trusted in a number 
of different contingencies. Sometimes this will 
mean some sacrifice of their own desires, and chil- 
dren are often inclined to impatience and disobedi- 
ence under these circumstances. If we are to 
measure up to point six in the Standard of Conduct, 
we must use such materials and methods, and know 
the child so well, that we can stimulate this "in-* 
creasing spirit of obedience and helpfulness. " 

The matter of "forgetting self in social relations ,, 
is no small thing for a Primary child to achieve. 
The little girl who is playing "house" with other 
children finds it hard to share her dolls and dishes 
and other playthings with the child who has little. 
Her religious teaching must help her to do this or 
it cannot become really effective in her life. 

Questions 

1. What degree of understanding usually exists be- 
tween children and grown people ? 

2. At what points in our lesson planning and teach- 
ing do we need to know the week-day experiences of 
the children ? 

3. What must we know about the child's home and 
his parents? 

4. What should we know concerning his life in the 
public school? 

5. What should we know concerning his play life? 



The Child During the Week 135 

6. What methods of investigation shall we use? 

7. What is a reasonable standard of conduct for 
children of Primary age? 

8. Give several typical situations (not those in the 
book) in which the conduct of a child may show the 
result of religious teaching. 

Assignment for Observation 

Prepare your own list of questions based upon the 
points discussed in this lesson. You will discover that 
there are twelve questions concerning the child's home 
and parents, seven concerning his public school life, 
and six concerning his play life. Investigate and re- 
report upon at least one child and as many more as 
you can. 



LESSON XIII 

RECORDS, CREDITS AND RECOGNITION 

It is the custom to make out and read a report 
every Sunday in the general school assembly. This 
report is intended to inform and stimulate those 
who hear it; to cause satisfaction if the report is 
good and alarm if it is poor. Such a report deals 
with totals and the "average of two-hundred and 
fifty for the month" which seems such a fine report 
in a certain school, but does not take into account 
the fact that it was not the same two hundred and 
fifty each week. Very often these figures are never 
used in any way except for the report on Sunday, 
in which case the precious time of the Sunday ses- 
sion, the energy of teachers and officers, and a lot of 
good paper and ink, have been used to very little 
purpose. We cannot measure the success of our 
school by the number of people who attend it. If 
our work is poor, the larger the number, the greater 
the failure. We are teaching individuals and must 
be willing to test our work by the kind of personal- 
ities developed by the children we have taught. 

Reduced to the fundamental reason, our keeping 
of records is for the purpose of tracing irregularity 
in attendance, so that the cause may be investigated 
and a remedy found. The astounding fact that more 
than half the number of children who attend Protes- 
tant Sunday schools are present less than half of the 

136 



Records, Credits and Recognition 137 

time has been revealed by surveys, and ought to 
arouse teachers and officers to intelligent activity. 
Campaigns to increase numbers will not solve the 
problem. Good teaching, attractive environment, 
well-kept records followed up systematically will 
slowly but certainly get results. 

Records and their use. — There are at least two 
kinds of records : the permanent enrollment file and 
the current records. We must not forget that the 
Primary Department is part of the whole school. 
Its officers and teachers must cooperate in the plans 
and the work of the school. At the same time we 
must take into account the limitations of Primary 
children and not attempt to keep records of things 
which they are incapable of doing or which would 
not be of value. For example, if it is the policy of 
the school to keep a record of Bibles brought, this 
item must be omitted in the Primary records, for, 
since the children are unable to read it, it would re- 
sult in their getting the idea that there was merit in 
the mere carrying of a Bible. In other words, the 
records must be graded. 

Enrollment. — Every child who becomes a mem- 
ber of the Primary Department should be enrolled 
in a permanent file of the school. This enrollment 
card should include the full name of the child, the 
parents' names, the address, the telephone number, 
the child's birthday and exact age, and any other 
information desired. It is sometimes best to have this 
enrolling done in the general office of the school if 
there is one. When this is done a duplicate card 



138 Methods for Primary Teachers 

should be sent to the Primary Department secre- 
tary. It is usually best to enroll a child when he 
has been present three Sundays in succession. There 
are, of course, exceptions which it would be foolish 
to ignore, as in the case of a family whose relation 
to the church and the school is established without 
question as soon as they move into the community 
and present themselves at the school. For the sake 
of placing the child in the right class it is also well 
to have a tentative enrollment made out the first 
Sunday, to be put in the permanent file when the 
child has been present three Sundays. There are also 
circumstances in which it is best for the enrollment 
to be made in the department by the department 
secretary, a duplicate card being sent to the enroll- 
ing officer of the school. This plan should be fol- 
lowed when the office or the desk of the enrolling 
officer of the school is not easily accessible, or when 
the enrolling officer has other duties which prevent 
his being in his place to enroll pupils before and 
during the early part of the session. 

This enrollment file should be kept up to date, 
adding such information as change of address, or 
promotion into a new class or department. In the 
case of removals the card should be taken out of 
the regular file and placed in another for future 
reference. If the permanent enrollment file is ar- 
ranged alphabetically and by families, it will be pos- 
sible for the department superintendent, the general 
officer of the school, or the pastor to become familiar 



Records, Credits and Recognition 139 

with the relations existing between any home and 
the church. 

The teachers and officers of the Primary Depart- 
ment should cooperate with the officer in charge of 
this general enrollment file, for it can only be of 
service when it is kept up to date. 

The child's record. — We are so accustomed to 
thinking of records from the point of view of the 
school that we often overlook their value in the 
child's development. Since we are teaching indi- 
viduals and are interested in their spiritual develop- 
ment we must have some way of measuring their 
progress. Moreover, there must be some common 
understanding between pupils and teachers as to 
what is expected. "Children in their learning sel- 
dom have more than a very indefinite feeling that, 
of course, they are supposed to do better; and this 
is true often because they do not know when they 
improve or how much. The change of the attain- 
ment of children in any given task is remarkable 
when conditions are so arranged that attention is 
focused on the improvement." 1 There are certain 
phases of the teacher's aim which cannot be shared 
by the pupils, but we can be far more definite than 
we usually are in the requirements for the children. 
A small grade or credit card upon which the chil- 
dren are marked each week for their being present, 
on time, making an offering, having done their home 
work and knowing the memory verse, will set up a 
simple standard of attainment which the children 



^Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



140 Methods for Primary Teachers 

can understand. It is true that these are not the 
aim of our religious teaching which can only be 
stated in terms of character and personality. We 
strive to produce kindly, helpful, obedient, loving 
personalities, children who wish to please their 
heavenly Father. The moment we state these aims 
directly to the children and begin to measure kind- 
ness, helpfulness, and other good deeds we create 
a sort of smug self-righteousness that defeats our 
purpose. These desirable characteristics will be a 
by-product of the simple things we include in the 
credit card. The teacher's aims are in terms of 
conduct and must be based upon the child's expe- 
riences and his nature. The standard of attainment 
which we place before the child is a means of real- 
izing this spiritual aim. 

In a credit card such as the one suggested above 
a credit value may be given to each of these points, 
either an equal value of credit for each one or such 
division as may seem best in view of the needs and 
tendencies of the children in the community. It 
has been found that children understand and re- 
spond to numerical credits more than letters or 
words ; that is, they appreciate and strive for a mark 
of 100 rather than an "E," or "Excellent." 

The question may be raised as to the danger of 
such a credit card being used as an end rather than 
a recognition of work done. In fact, we are justified 
in using it as an incentive, because the children we 
teach are in that period of development in which 
incentives are necessary. The form of incentives 



Records, Credits and Recognition 141 

will change in later years, but some form of incen- 
tive we always need. Teachers everywhere who 
have used some form of credit card in the Primary 
Department will testify to the children's enthusi- 
astic response, their satisfaction in reaching the 
standard set for them which, in turn, produces the 
desire for further achievement. 

The child should feel that this is indeed his own 
card, that it will be his to take home, and that his 
standing in the department depends upon the record 
that he makes. 

The teacher's record. — If the teacher marks 
these credit cards before the session or at the be- 
ginning of the class period each Sunday, she is able 
to watch the progress of each pupil. This will guide 
her in emphasizing and strengthening certain phases 
of her work. For example, if one child is failing in 
his memory work, he will need special attention ; 
but if all the children are failing in this point, she 
will need to use some other method in developing 
the memory verses. 

Irregularity of attendance and tardiness will also 
show up as individual problems to be dealt with 
rather than merely as class totals. Perhaps absent 
pupils are looked up by some department officer, in 
which case the list of absentees may be given by the 
teacher to that person. It is a very good plan to 
have the first absence investigated by the teacher; 
if she is unable to discover the cause or to find a 
remedy, she may report it to the department secre- 
tary or superintendent; if the absence continues, the 



142 Methods for Primary Teachers 

matter should be reported to some school officer 
such as the absentee secretary or church visitor. 

For the parents. — This credit card, covering a 
period of three months, should be sent to the par- 
ents, that they may see the facts concerning the 
child's record. If this is accompanied by a letter, 
signed by the teacher, bearing her address and tele- 
phone number and reminding them that she will be 
glad to talk over any questions with them, a very 
wholesome home and church cooperation will often 
develop. The parents have a right to know what 
is expected of their children and what progress they 
are making. 

Permanent records. — Before these credit cards are 
sent home the totals of each item, namely the num- 
ber of Sundays present, the number on time, the 
offerings, the number of weeks in which home work 
was done and the memory verses learned, should be 
placed on the permanent records. This permanent 
record should provide a place for the credits of the 
child during the entire time he is in the department. 
This will allow comparison. It should be kept by 
the department secretary but available for reference 
by the teachers and department superintendent. 

Recognition. — Children enjoy working for results 
which are not too remote, and it is sometimes best 
to recognize each week the children who make a 
grade of 100 or of at least 80. If these children 
stand for recognition or if their names are put on 
the blackboard, it will be sufficient honor. Who is 
there, young or old, who does not like a wee bit of 



Records, Credits and Recognition 143 

appreciation for work well done? Pupils who make 
high grades may be recognized at the end of the 
quarter in some distinctive way, such as the special 
honor roll. These credits week by week and year 
by year should be taken into account in the pupils' 
standing at promotion time. It is right and fair 
that some distinction should be made between the 
children who have tried to do their work well and 
those who have never made the necessary effort. 
The method of giving credit and recognition may 
vary, but the principle of having some standard of 
attainment, and some form of recognition, must be 
followed. 

Questions 

1. What is the situation in regard to records in 
your school? 

2. What two kinds of records are there? 

3. What relation to the rest of the school has the 
Primary Department? 

4. How should the enrollment be made and what 
should it consist of? 

5. What is the child's attitude toward cards or 
credits ? 

6. What points may be included in these credits? 

7. What use shall the teacher make of the records? 

8. How may they be used in establishing home co- 
operation ? 

9. What permanent record should there be ? 

10. What form of recognition may be given? 



LESSON XIV 

STANDARDS FOR PROMOTION 

The significance of Promotion Day. — To whom 
does Promotion Day belong? Without doubt, it 
has relation to the administration of the school, for 
it is a systematic way of keeping the school graded 
and transferring the pupils from one group to an- 
other. Some of us can remember when we were 
children that the only way to go from one class into 
an older one was to decide within your own heart 
that you were big enough and to transfer yourself 
some Sunday morning when no one was paying any 
particular attention. But a plan of promotion en- 
ables the officers of the school to care for this matter 
in an orderly way. However, Promotion Day does 
not belong to the school alone. Unquestionably, it 
also provides a way by which the school may show 
the parents and the community what the children 
are accomplishing, and no small amount of credit is 
reflected upon the teachers. But Promotion Day 
does not belong to either parents or teachers. 

It is the child's own day which enables him to 
feel and know that he is making progress, that he is 
getting on, and that certain things have been 
achieved. He knows that he is getting older and 
it is gratifying to him to know that the school rec- 
ognizes this fact. He will also find satisfaction in 

144 



Standards $o& Promotion 145 

sharing with his parents and friends some of the 
new knowledge and ability that he has gained. 

The credit that is reflected upon the school and 
its teachers, the information which comes to the 
parents in the community, are incidental results 
which will come naturally. In all our plans we must 
remember that it is the child's day and the effect 
upon him is our first consideration. 

The basis of promotion. — Not by years nor by 
knowledge can we measure a child's readiness for 
promotion. It is a matter of spiritual development ; 
but years and knowledge will effect this in various 
ways and we cannot determine a child's stage of 
development without taking into account his ex- 
perience and his knowledge. Referring to the plan 
of organization treated in Lesson I, we will usually 
promote the children from one grade to another on 
the Promotion Day nearest the birthday designated. 
This will mean that the children will pass from the 
first to the second grade at about seven years of 
age, from the second to the third at about eight, and 
from the third grade to the Junior Department at 
about nine years of age, this age grading being 
modified by the pupil's public school grade and 
such other modification as the child's capacity may 
indicate. 

His recognition at promotion time should be 
based upon more than memory work. His faith- 
fulness, his week-by-week home work, and memory 
verses should all be taken into account. Many 
children of the plodding type are not particularly 



146 Methods for Primary Teachers 

showy on special occasions and yet they deserve 
recognition for what they have done. If some sys- 
tem of credits, such as that suggested in Lesson 
XIII, has been used, the basis of recognition is 
readily seen. For instance, an honor seal may be 
placed upon the promotion card or certificate of the 
child who has made a grade of 80 per cent or more, 
while a special honor seal may be given for a grade 
of 90 per cent or more. These children should be rec- 
ognized in some special way at promotion time. If 
reports have been sent home regularly, no objection 
can be made to this special recognition, for both pupils 
and parents have known the requirements. It is a 
better plan to connect in this way the weekly work 
w 7 ith Promotion Day than to carry out each plan in- 
dependent of the other. 

Memory requirements. — As a means of reaching 
the spiritual standards of attitude and behavior on 
the part of the children, we have a certain body of 
material consisting of stories, verses, songs, and 
other related things. All of this influences the 
child's mind and heart but not all of it will be re- 
membered, at least in its exact form. Some of it 
should be, and through our memory requirements 
for the various years we may recall and fix those 
things which we wish to have remain permanently 
in the child's fund of knowledge. 

There is a certain danger in lists of memory re- 
quirements, for in our endeavor to have the children 
learn these things we sometimes teach them in an 
unrelated way, out of connection with the lessons of 



Standards For Promotion 147 

which they are a part. For example, the twenty- 
third psalm very naturally comes in connection with 
the lessons of David. In fact, it loses a large part 
of its significance unless it is taught in this con- 
nection. The Lord's Prayer comes naturally in 
connection with the lesson "Jesus Teaching How to 
Pray/' and the children will be far less likely to 
merely say the words if they are first associated 
with that narrative, for there will always be clus- 
tered around them the beauty of that occasion. 

Therefore, if we are to have a list of memory re- 
quirements, let us write at the top of it these words, 
"Never teach an unrelated truth/' It would be bet- 
ter for each group of teachers, together with the de- 
partment superintendent, to make out their own list 
of requirements. Secure an outline of the entire 
Primary lesson course. This will sometimes be 
found in the back of the quarterly or teacher's text- 
book; or it can be obtained from the publishing 
house in the form of a printed outline or prospectus. 
There is very great value in having the entire course 
before us, for only in this way can we grasp the 
significance of the complete list of themes, stories, 
and memory verses. With the outline of the entire 
course in hand, study it carefully with a view to 
selecting those things which you think should be 
the permanent possession of the children. Your 
choice will be determined by the children's daily 
needs ; such as the verse "Be ye kind one to another, 
tender-hearted, forgiving each other." Underscore 
the stories and memory verses which you select 



148 Methods £or Primary Tkachers 

and then write in the margin of this outline the 
titles of the songs and other related material which 
should be included in the list of requirements. Such 
an outline made early in the year will make clear 
to the teacher what she is expected to accomplish. 
It will guide in the planning of the recitation or ex- 
pression part of the lesson periods, so that this ma- 
terial will be recalled and emphasized in the process 
of the year's work. No rehearsing or practicing 
should be necessary for Promotion Day. The chil- 
dren are made ready for it week by week, and in a 
cumulative way the memory requirements are at- 
tained. 

When such a process is followed the list of re- 
quirements will probably be something like this : 

First year — 

Six or eight of the lesson stories. 
Ten or twelve of the memory verses. 
A child's hymn such as "Away in a Manger" or 
"How Strong and Sweet My Father's Care!" 

Second year — 

About the same number of stories and verses as 

in the first year. 
Psalm 100. 
Luke 2:8-14. 

A temperance song or verse. 
Songs : "I think when I read that sweet story of 

old" or "Tell me the story of Jesus." 
A review of the selected portions of the first year 

requirements. 



Standards for Promotion 149 

Third year — 

Selected stories and verses from the third-year 
lessons. 

Psalm 23. 

The Lord's Prayer. 

John 3:16. 

A New Commandment. John 13 :34. 

Songs and Hymns : selected from those that have 
been used during the three years in the Pri- 
mary Department. 

Another list of requirements which has been sat- 
isfactorily used by some leaders, is as follows: 

First year — 

Not less than 75 per cent of the memory verses 
for the year, these to be carefully selected. 
(Since these are said over many times in the 
class periods, they are thus learned without 
taxing the children.) 

Second year — 

(a) Not less than 75 per cent of the verses for 
the year, carefully selected; (b) Luke 2:8-14; 
(c) review of the first year's verses. 

Third year — 

(a) Nearly all of the memory verses for the year; 

(b) Twenty-third Psalm; (c) The Lord's Prayer. 
The Promotion Day program. — It is evident 

that not all of this material can be used in a 
public program ; parts of it should be chosen 
for this purpose. Select some theme such as 



150 Methods for Primary Teachers 

"God the Creator and Father" or "Jesus tne 
Friend and Saviour," and use that portion of the 
memory material which is suited to the theme. If 
the Primary Department graduates share in a gen- 
eral program with the other departments, only the 
children who are being promoted from the depart- 
ment can take part. If the program is held in each 
department separately, each one of the grades may 
participate. If the former plan is followed, some 
provision should be made in the department pro- 
gram for the recognition of the first- and second- 
year pupils. Promotion certificates may be given to 
the children who are going into the Junior Depart- 
ment, promotion cards to those who are passing 
from one grade to another within the department. 
Seals according to the standing of the pupil may be 
affixed to either of these. 

The spirit of Promotion Day. — This should be 
joyous, and it will be if the teachers have this atti- 
tude. Of course the children are reluctant to leave 
the teacher, but this does not mean that they will 
not love the new teacher and lessons quite as much. 
The teacher who said to her class, "I am so proud 
of you and I shall be so disappointed unless you do 
well in your next grade," was sending the children 
on to new achievements. 

There should be close cooperation between teach- 
ers, and such information as will be of value to the 
new teacher should be passed on by the one who 
has been teaching the children. 



Standards for Promotion 151 

The standard for the teacher. — After all, this is a 
teacher's standard, for if the children do not reach 
the standard of requirements, it is because we have 
not found the right method. If the teacher knows 
definitely and clearly what she is trying to accom- 
plish, she is likely to do it. 

There is a standard which is deeper and more 
far-reaching than anything we have mentioned here. 
We cannot make a list that will define it; we can- 
not give certificates and seals for it ; but we can 
know it and reach it. It is the standard of attitudes. 
The child's real feeling toward God as the Creator 
and Father of all, his real sense of friendship with 
Jesus Christ, his desire to live as God's child in 
helpful kindly service — these constitute our stand- 
ard and in our zeal to reach memory requirements 
we must not fail to feel the deep significance of this 
other standard. 

Questions 

1. What does Promotion Dav mean to a child? 

2. What other value has it? 

3. What is the basis of promotion? 

4. What additional recognition may be given? 

5. How should the list of memory requirements be 
obtained and used? 

6. How should memory requirements be used during 
the year? 

7. Give a suggested list of requirements. 

8. How should the Promotion Day program be 
built? 

9. What should be the spirit of Promotion Day? 



152 Methods for Primary Teachers 

10. What relation has the teacher to this standard 
of requirements? 

11. What is the spiritual standard for the Primary 
Department ? 

Problem for Discussion 

What is our greatest need in connection with the 
memory work? 



LESSON XV 

PLANNING FOR SPECIAL DAYS 

Their value. — The value of the observance of any 
special day depends upon its meaning to the chil- 
dren. We must be able to discern the spiritual sig- 
nificance of any special occasion and find a way to 
interpret this to the children we teach. The sea- 
sons and holidays affect the life of every community 
and person in it. Nearly all of them have been 
commercialized, and sometimes they are so envel- 
oped in materialisms that we fail to discern their 
true meaning. To how many of us, older grown, 
does the springtime mean new life and resurrec- 
tion? Alas, it is likely to mean housecleaning and 
extra sewing! We go about with our eyes so riv- 
eted upon things to do that the deeper messages of 
life cannot reach us. Let us take ourselves in hand 
and see to it that we enter into the fullest, deepest 
meaning of every season and special day. Other- 
wise, we cannot hope to tread the paths of child- 
hood, to say nothing of serving as a guide. 

Many special days grew up within the church 
and are primarily religious. Others are included in 
the program of the church because they are vital in 
human experience. These special days observed in 
the church and school have usually been made the 
occasion of a program or entertainment, and in too 
many cases the children are exploited for the enter- 

153 



154 Methods for Primary Teachers 

tainment of adults. We have measured the success 
of such special days by the perfection of the pro- 
gram or the money raised, forgetting that anything 
that is gained by injury to the nature and person- 
ality of a child is costly and disastrous. Elizabeth 
Harrison in her Study of Child Nature, says, "I 
have seen the holy Easter festival so celebrated by 
Sunday schools that, so far as its effects upon the 
younger children were concerned, they might each 
one as well have been given a glass of intoxicating 
liquor, so upset was their digestion, so excited their 
brains, so demoralized their unused emotions." 
Churches have been known to measure the success 
of the Primary superintendent by the kind of enter- 
tainment she trained the children to produce. 

There is a place for special days in the plans of 
the Primary Department, but their value is meas- 
ured in their effect upon the spiritual life of the 
children. 

How to prepare for special days. — This prepara- 
tion must be a part of the regular worship and in- 
struction of the Primary program. If the day or 
season has a place in a child's life, it should be in- 
cluded there. This we saw when we discussed 
"Building the Program. " Instead of interfering 
with the regular work of the department the special 
day should enrich it. The department superintend- 
ent who apologized for her disordered program "be- 
cause we are preparing for Thanksgiving Day," 
either was making the wrong kind of preparation 
or had the wrong kind of "regular work." The 



Planning for Special Days 155 

songs, stories, memory verses, poems, and other 
things which naturally come in the department pro- 
gram are in themselves preparation for any special 
day to be observed in the department or school. 
The Primary Department should not be called upon 
to take part in a large number of public exercises, 
but there is value in their doing so three or four 
times during the year. In this way they feel them- 
selves a part of the school family, and they have 
the pleasure of sharing with their friends the things 
which they have enjoyed in their own department. 
It is from this point of view that the special-day 
program should be approached in the Primary De- 
partment. Let us prepare for special days rather 
than practice and rehearse. The children should 
feel that they are sharing their pleasures with the 
rest of the school, not that they are showing off. 
Individual recitations, applause, encores are all out 
of harmony, in a measure, with this idea and we 
should guard against them tactfully. 

The meaning of special days. — The primary su- 
perintendent and teachers should have a calendar 
of special days, annotated and interpreted in terms 
that are spiritual and childlike. We will begin with 
October, since that is usually considered the begin- 
ning of the school year. It will be necessary to 
know in a general way at least what is being done 
in the public school, for we will not wish to dupli- 
cate their work. Sometimes things which the chil- 
dren have done at the public school may be used 
at the church and thus establish a connection be- 



156 Methods for Primary Teachers 

tween a child's religious instruction and his week- 
day activities. But we shall not wish to emphasize 
the same things, for there are other things which 
only the church can do. 

By recalling the lesson on program building you 
will see that themes around which programs are 
planned week by week are very closely related to 
the various holidays of the year. Therefore this 
subject of special days is not an isolated one, nor a 
matter that can be dealt with independent of the 
other phases of the program building. 

Columbus' Day, the 12th of October, is being ob- 
served more generally than in the past. What 
shall we find in this that teachers of religion may 
do? This offers an excellent opportunity for calling 
attention to the Italians in America to-day, their 
share in doing the work of our nation, and our 
friendship for them. The stories of the Calcatina 
family, 1 how they found a home in America, may 
well be used in the department program. Perhaps, 
after the children have saluted the American flag, 
one child may hold the Italian flag while they all 
say together, "I pledge my friendship to the strangers 
in America." 

Thanksgiving Day has such a large part in our 
programs of thankfulness that it seems scarcely 
necessary to dwell upon the plans for it. The pub- 
lic school will emphasize the historical side, the life 
of the Pilgrims, and so forth, and the Tiome will be 
concerned with the preparation for the Thanksgiv- 



Htalian Picture Stories, Missionary Education Movement, New 
York City. 



Planning £or Special Days 157 

ing dinner. All of these are only the setting for the 
actual giving thanks, which should be a part of 
Thanksgiving Day, and so often is not. The Pri- 
mary Department must provide the children their 
opportunity to express in a special way their thanks 
to the Giver of all good gifts. 

Christmas is becoming so commercialized and 
people are so burdened with the preparation for it 
that the religious teachers of children must be more 
careful than ever that the beautiful stories of the 
first Christmas season are not lost or slighted. Let 
us leave the myths and legends to other agencies, 
while we reveal the Christ-child, the angels' song, 
the adoring shepherds, and the Wise-men with 
their gifts. Even legends in which the Christ-child 
is a figure are not necessary because there is such a 
wealth in the actual material. The fact is, they 
often confuse, and the children do not know what is 
real and what is legendary. The story in Scripture, 
song, and art never becomes old. It may be marred 
by our ineffective telling, but it is worth the best 
that we can give. 

In recognition of Lincoln's and Washington's 
birthdays in February we may emphasize their mes- 
sage of truth and honor, fidelity to a promise and 
courage in times of great need. Even Valentine's 
Day may well be recognized in the Primary Depart- 
ment, for it looms large in the interest of the chil- 
dren. To them it is a time of exchanging valen- 
tines, and it may become a time when they send 



158 Methods for Primary Tiuchers 

valentines to those who would not otherwise have 
any. 

In the springtime there is Arbor Day, when the 
children may plant a tree or a bush in the church- 
yard, or through a story or song they may be re- 
minded that it is the heavenly Father who sends the 
sunshine and the rain necessary to the trees' growth. 
Easter is another church holiday which sometimes 
needs to be rescued from materialism, for new clothes 
and Easter eggs very often obscure the vision of both 
teachers and children. Children's Day, with its 
message of summertime or its missionary signifi- 
cance, and Patriotic Sunday in July, Rally Day and 
Promotion Day complete the round of the year. 
In each one of these we may be true to our princi- 
ples and may use them as opportunities for develop- 
ing the religious life of the children. Let us use 
them, not abuse them, and be true to our trust as 
the teachers of children. 

In some churches there are special missionary 
days, which sometimes occur on Thanksgiving or 
Easter, or have a special day of their own. Pro- 
grams are provided by mission boards, and too 
often in the past they have been simply entertain- 
ments designed to get money. But there is a grow- 
ing conviction on the part of religious leaders, both 
among the mission boards and the Sunday school 
forces, that these special missionary programs 
should be educational in their content and purpose. 
The Kingdom will never come through unintelligent 
gifts of money. "The gift without the giver is 



Planning for SrEciAi, Days 159 

bare/' and love must grow out of understanding 
into a desire- to share. 

All that has been said in this lesson concerning 
"How to Prepare for Special Days" should be ap- 
plied very definitely to these missionary days. The 
parts of the programs provided which are designed 
for the children should be within their understand- 
ing and emotional capacity. When this is the case 
these parts should be developed and taught as a 
part of the department instruction. When they are 
not suitable they should be adapted or other things 
substituted. This can be done without being out 
of harmony with the plan and purpose of the special 
missionary day. 

Questions 

1. What is the proper use of special days in the 
Primary Department? 

2. How may we prepare for them? 

3. How will special days in the Primary Department 
be related to the public school? 

4. Give a list of special days and their spiritual 
significance for Primary children. 

5. What value is there in Primary children joining 
with the rest of the school in special day programs? 

6. What danger is there? 

7. What must be our first consideration? 

Problem for Discussion 

How may we bring the adult portion of our school 
to understand our point of view in the matter of 
special days? 



LESSON XVI 

HOME COOPERATION 

What we desire. — The thing that we usually 
speak of as home cooperation is that phase of it 
which touches directly our work in the Primary 
Department. We wish that the parents would see 
that the children attend regularly and come on 
time ; that they would supervise the children's home 
work and see that it is done ; that, by their presence, 
and in other ways, they would show a personal in- 
terest in what we are trying to do. After all, these 
things are only a product of something that is much 
deeper and fuller. When the fathers and mothers 
are vitally concerned in the religious education of 
their children these things will come naturally. It 
has been said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of inter- 
est, and all these things will be added unto you." 

The real situation. — Primarily, this is a matter of 
education which goes back to the attitude of the 
church in parent training. When young people are 
brought to think seriously of home-making and the 
religious nurture of children, they will be so much 
interested in what is done in the Sunday school that 
we who teach there will be stimulated to measure 
up to what is expected of us. As the matter stands 
now we are often obliged to do our work, provide 
our own inspiration, and endeavor to create out- 
side interest in it. The good day is coming when 

160 



Homd Cooperation 161 

the home will take the initiative in religious educa- 
tion. It must if the "knowledge of the Lord" is 
ever to "cover the earth." 

The immediate problem. — In the meantime we 
must face the immediate problem before us and es- 
tablish friendly, cordial cooperation between the 
home and the school. The method of going about 
this will vary with the individual. It is certainly 
first of all a matter of acquaintance. The teacher 
must visit in the home not in an official capacity but 
as a friend, interested in things in which the family 
are interested, if in turn she hopes to arouse their 
interest in the work of the school. She must talk 
definitely and specifically about the child's work in 
the school. It is not enough to say "William is 
such a bright boy"; she must discuss what William 
actually does. She must know and talk frankly and 
tactfully about William's characteristics and be- 
havior. When the parents once feel that we really 
care and wish to help, they will be glad of the op- 
portunity to discuss their problems. 

We must not forget our relation to the whole 
school and the church, and when we discover homes 
and parents that are not interested in the church or 
touched by it we should report the facts to the pastor 
or to the leaders of the adult Bible classes. Per- 
haps the best way we could provide a religious 
environment for a child is to bring his parents into 
vital relation with the church. 

The parents informed. — It is of great importance 
that the parents shall visit the department. A gen- 



162 Methods for Primary Teachers 

eral invitation to do this, or even a personal invita- 
tion to "visit some day," will not accomplish much. 
A mother or father who is invited to visit the de- 
partment on a certain Sunday for a definite purpose 
is far more likely to be there. Let us consider a 
concrete case. In the course of a visit in the home 
a certain Primary teacher learned through the 
mother that her young son did not seem to under- 
stand certain things that he was to do and to learn. 
The teacher very frankly said, "Perhaps we are not 
putting the matter before him in a way that is clear. 
Would you mind attending the session and the class 
next Sunday and then tell us what you think is 
causing the difficulty ?" Sometimes these misun- 
derstandings are due to the fact that the parents are 
not sufficiently familiar with the work that they 
understand what the child is trying to tell them. 
In any case, misunderstandings may be wiped out 
through personal contact and acquaintance. 

The report card or other information sent into 
the home regularly each quarter will gradually 
bring about a consciousness of responsibility on the 
part of the parents. Any plan must be persistently 
followed, for we cannot hope to overcome years of 
slack methods by three or six months of systematic 
work. 

Parents' meetings. — Mass meetings will never 
take the place of friendly contact through individual 
work. But as a result of these personal methods 
very profitable meetings of parents and teachers 
may be brought about. In fact, they will usually 



Home Cooperation 163 

come about in that way. When the mother and 
father know the teacher personally, when they have 
visited the department and have seen it at work, 
and have faced certain problems in the religious life 
of their children and their home, they will respond 
to an announcement of a meeting or an invitation 
to attend one, in which the religious education of 
their children is to be discussed. These meetings 
must be intensely practical as well as a source of 
inspiration. Perhaps at first there will be no other 
than an annual meeting of the parents and the 
teachers, at which time certain outstanding prob- 
lems are discussed, an inspirational address given 
and the spirit of consecration generated. If this 
meeting is of the right kind, the parents themselves 
will express the desire that they might meet more 
often, and quarterly or monthly meetings will re- 
sult. Organizations which grow from within are 
the kind that live; those promoted from without 
usually require artificial stimulants. 

In all meetings of parents and teachers, whether 
held annually or monthly, there should be a com- 
mittee or organization which includes both parents 
and teachers, the former predominating in numbers. 
This committee or organization should plan the 
program and make the arrangements for the meet- 
ings. An announcement of a parents' meeting made 
in the name of some father or mother in the church 
will win the attention and response of other parents. 

When the time is not ripe for the formation of a 
parent-teachers' organization the mothers of the Pri- 



164 Methods for Primary Teachers 

mary children may be invited to meet quarterly or 
monthly to discuss the specific problems of this de- 
partment as they directly concern the children. In 
fact, such a meeting as this is desirable even when 
the larger and more general parent-teachers' organ- 
ization is at work. Sometimes this meeting of the 
mothers may be brought about through a committee 
of mothers who are already interested and who are 
willing to cooperate with the Primary superintend- 
ent in reaching other mothers. We must be will- 
ing to lose ourselves and to be glad if the results are 
accomplished, even though we must work in the 
background. 

If the meetings are held only quarterly, practical 
talks and discussions are the only educational 
methods we can use; but if they are held at least 
monthly, some definite line of study or text-book 
should be used. But let us not forget that many 
mothers hunger for a deeper religious experience 
and that to sing and pray and read God's Word will 
be a privilege greatly appreciated. 

There should be some opportunity for a frank 
discussion of the work being done in the Primary 
Department, both from the point of view of the 
parents and the teachers. 

Questions 

1. What are some of the products of home coopera- 
tion that concern the Primary Department? 

2. What is the fundamental situation in the matter 
of home cooperation? 



Home Cooperation 165 

3. Describe the personal method of dealing with 
the problem. 

4. What information should the parents have con- 
cerning the children's work in the Primary Depart- 
ment? 

5. How may meetings and organizations develop? 

6. How may the formation of an organization be 
approached? 

7. What elements should be in a meeting of parents 
and teachers? 

Problem for Discussion 

What is the attitude of the parents in your com- 
munity toward religious education? 



LESSON XVII 

PLANS FOR CONFERENCES 

Shared ideals. — An organization is a living thing. 
It is far more than a list of officers. It is more than 
a mere assembly at stated times. There must be 
shared ideals, each person a part of the whole plan, 
understanding it, entering into it, and deeply con- 
cerned in its success. There must be some way to 
bring about this intelligent working together. It 
cannot be done through personal conversation over 
the telephone or through hurried conferences on 
Sunday morning. Each teacher becomes fifty per 
cent more effective in her work as the result of con- 
ferences in which the ideals and plans of the depart- 
ment may be discussed. 

The department conferences. — At least once dur- 
ing each month, at a regularly appointed time and 
place, the teachers and officers of the Primary De- 
partment should meet for a conference, with a pro- 
gram and order of business. This conference must 
be at least one hour in length. It is much better to 
have an hour and a half or two hours. The time for 
holding this conference will depend upon the per- 
sonnel of the working force. If they are people 
who can control their own time during the day, an 
afternoon once a month may be given to this. If 
they are employed throughout the day, one evening 
a month may be used. Sometimes they are so situ- 

166 



Plans for Conferences 167 

ated that an evening meeting is difficult to arrange, 
on account of long distances or location. In this 
case a Sunday afternoon has been found very sat- 
isfactory, sometimes having the meeting from four 
to six with a light lunch served before the evening 
services. The question of time may be adjusted, 
but the necessity for a monthly conference must be 
recognized and met. 

The program of this department conference 
should have at least three parts: (1) a devotional 
service, including real and definite prayer for guid- 
ance and a deepening of the spiritual lives of the 
teachers and officers ; (2) a business session in 
which the needs of the department are considered, 
orders for supplies and equipment made out, and 
the report as to enrollment, attendance, absence, 
and the general records of the department; (3) a 
discussion of methods of work, in which the order 
of the program will be considered, new songs 
learned, and any changes in the recognition of 
birthdays, offering services, or other items of the 
program will be planned ; teaching methods w r ill 
also be considered in this part of the program, each 
teacher presenting in a general way her themes for 
the month and the plans that she has in mind ; prob- 
lems related to individual children naturally follow 
in this section also. 

There may be also an educational period in which 
some book or subject is studied. If two hours are 
available for the conference, twenty minutes or a 



168 Methods for Primary Teachers 

half hour may be given to the presentation of a 
chapter or a topic. 

The seasonal decorations may be planned, the 
work done at this time or assigned to different ones 
in the group to be done outside. It will aid mate- 
rially in making this meeting a success if a program 
is made out, typewritten copies given to the teach- 
ers a week in advance, or at least written on the 
blackboard before the meeting convenes. New 
teachers and officers entering the Primary Depart- 
ment should understand in the beginning that their 
attendance at these monthly conferences is required 
quite as much as their regularity and promptness 
on Sunday. The meeting must be worth while and 
profitable and the spirit of good fellowship should 
prevail. A little fun and social courtesy will also 
help to establish the right spirit. 

Interdepartment conferences. — No department in 
the school has a complete existence within itself. 
It is based upon what has gone before, and part of 
its work depends upon things in the next depart- 
ment for which the children are being prepared. 
This calls for conference between the different de- 
partments in the school and these are an important 
phase of our plans. The absolute lack of coopera- 
tion and sympathy between the departments is one 
of the most amazing and deplorable things to be 
found in our educational policy. At least a month 
before Promotion Day the officers and teachers of 
the Beginners, Primary and Junior Departments 
should have 3- conference for the purpose of ex- 



Plans for Conferences 169 

changing lists of graduates together with the infor- 
mation which the next teacher and department 
superintendent should have, considering any ex- 
ceptions to be made in promotion and grading, and 
planning the Promotion Day program. Unless the 
general conferences of the school provide ample 
time and opportunity for arranging interdepartment 
activities, there will be additional conferences 
needed at special seasons of the year such as Christ- 
mas and Easter. There is a danger in isolating de- 
partments so completely that there is no oppor- 
tunity for friendly intercourse. They should be 
separated for worship and instruction but they may 
be joined together in many activities and will find 
pleasure in doing things together. Teachers and 
officers should first catch this spirit of unity and 
cultivate it among the children. 

The school conference. — The policy of holding 
workers' conferences, cabinet meetings, or other 
meetings of all officers and teachers, varies in dif- 
ferent schools. Whatever the plan, the Primary 
teachers and officers are a part of it and should 
enter into the spirit and ideals of the whole school. 
Sometimes it will be necessary to defend the rights 
of Primary children, contend for suitable environ- 
ment and equipment, and even protect them from ex- 
ploitation. It is not always possible for those who 
have never taught children to understand their 
point of view. We must proceed upon the basis 
that every officer and teacher in the school desires 
the best for every pupil ; it is simply a matter of 



170 Methods for Primary Teachers 

getting together on questions of policy and pro- 
cedure. 

At this general school conference the secretary 
of the department will report concerning new pu- 
pils, losses, average attendance, and such other sta- 
tistical items. The department superintendent will 
report the general condition in the department. 
Both reports should be brief and definite and in 
written form to be filed with the general secretary 
of the school. Sometimes both of the reports men- 
tioned above will be made by the department super- 
intendent. Requests for supplies and equipment 
will be made at this time. If the school has a budget, 
certain allowances will be made to each depart- 
ment for their working materials and school equip- 
ment. 

Sometimes the plan is followed of having a meet- 
ing once a month of all department superintendents 
and general school officers, the teachers in the vari- 
ous departments attending this conference once 
each quarter, when there is a special address and a 
business session in which the outstanding features 
of the school life are summarized. 

The plan of having a department conference fol- 
low the general conference each month has the 
disadvantage of not allowing sufficient time for 
department work. It is usually inadequate for any- 
thing more than a hurried discussion usually at a 
very late hour. 

The necessity of conference. — We may just as 
well face the fact that no school or department can 



Plans for Conferences 171 

do good work unless it has sufficient opportunity 
for conference. Matters concerning the manage- 
ment of the school should not be discussed in the 
session on Sunday morning. Business meetings 
called before the session take the teachers away 
from their pupils during time that is very valuable. 
We must recognize that religious education is more 
than a matter of one hour on Sunday morning. It 
will only become effective when it is projected into 
the week days of both teachers and pupils. 

How much do we love the Lord and his Kingdom? 
Does he have first place in our lives? 

Questions 

1. What is the relation of conferences to an organ- 
ization ? 

2. Present a plan for a department conference, sug- 
gesting time and program. 

3. What is the need for interdepartment confer- 
ences? When and for what specific purposes may 
they be used? 

4. What is the relation of the Primary Department 
officers and teachers to the general school conferences? 

5. Describe the necessity for conferences. 

Practice Work 

The remaining three lessons of this unit will be 
a study of the results of your practice work. Per- 
haps you will wish first to review the lessons you 
have had, and one meeting of the class may be given 
to that. At the close of this lesson (or the review) 
it will be necessary for you to receive your appoint- 



172 Methods for Primary Teachers 

ment to the place in which you are to do your prac- 
tice work. In Lesson XVIII you will find certain 
instructions as to the way of going about it. It may 
not be possible to meet every week while this prac- 
tice is going on. In fact, there is value in allowing 
a longer period of time to elapse in order that at 
least two pieces of practice work may be done. 

It will be an excellent plan to arrange for this 
work to be carried out during the summer months, 
making it possible for each student to cover a wider 
field of experimentation. The same points may be 
covered as those set forth in the three lessons which 
follow. 



LESSON XVIII 

PRACTICE WORK AND OBSERVATION (I) 

You have observed certain conditions and pieces 
of work in connection with the lessons in this unit. 
To a certain extent these have been separate items 
and have been evaluated upon their own merits. 
You will find that in connection with Lesson II 
there were twelve observation points ; for Lesson Y, 
fifteen points; Lesson VIII, ten points; Lessons XI 
and XII, twenty-four points ; making seventy-one 
in all beside your own list for observation of "The 
Child During The Week." You have observed the 
environment, the program, the lesson period and the 
children's week-day life. Yet all these are inter- 
woven and each affects the others. In the practice 
work which you are now to do these things must 
be fitted together and their inter-relations discov- 
ered. For, in actual work, no situation is isolated ; 
it is always a part of other situations which must 
be taken into consideration. Practically, the only 
way in which this can be understood is through ex- 
perience. You do not actually know the plan or 
theory until you have tried it. If it has not already 
been discussed in the class, read and consider the 
paragraph on "Practice Work" which appears at 
the end of Lesson XVII. 

Prepare yourself in body, mind, and soul, for this 
practice work. Be at your best physically so that 

173 



174 Methods for Primary Teachers 

you will make a fair test of what you can do. Avoid 
self-consciousness. This is not an easy thing to do 
when, in your own mind and perhaps in the minds 
of others, you are on trial. But if you will think of 
the children and their background of week-day ex- 
periences, you will forget yourself, which is one of 
the first essentials of a good teacher. Do not allow 
yourself to find excuses in the circumstances under 
which you must do your work. It is your business 
to overcome unfavorable circumstances. It is true 
that the condition should be made favorable by the 
church, but one of the problems you must face is 
that of creating sentiment and interest that will 
result in providing favorable circumstances. You 
cannot do this until you understand the work thor- 
oughly. School yourself to say "Whatever failure 
comes, the fault is within. " If this seems hard and 
a bit unfair, remind yourself that the right spirit 
can surmount every difficulty. 

The project method. — We will follow the plan of 
laying certain projects to be tried and tested. Re- 
member that a project is "something intended or de- 
vised," and you will thus have two essential 
elements in your practice work : an aim and a plan. 

We will begin with class projects, since this 
closer contact with the children and the more inti- 
mate methods of teaching is the best preparation 
for planning and carrying out department methods. 
In the next lesson we will consider department 
projects related to the program; in the last lesson, 
those related to the environment. 



Practice Work and Observation (I) 175 

Class projects — 

1. Plan a lesson, taking into account the follow- 
ing matters : 
The time element. 

The theme under which the lesson comes. 
The aim of the lesson. 
Probable experiences of the children. 
The lessons immediately preceding the one 

vou are to teach. 

«■• 

The form of expression you will suggest or 

call for. 
What you will do in the pre-session period. 
Your way of approach, whether the method is 

to be inductive or deductive. 
The way in which you will use the memory 

verse. 
What assignment for home work you will 

make. 
What week-day activities you will suggest. 

2. Tests: 

What response did the children give to you 
personally and to the lesson? 

Did you have sufficient time? If not, what 
part of your lesson was too long, or why was 
the lesson period shortened? 

Did the children recite their memory verses in 
a mechanical way or with apparent under- 
standing? 

Did they seem to know w r hat had been ex- 
pected as to home work? 



176 Methods for Primary Teachers 

What did they say or do spontaneously? 

If you are to have an opportunity for two or more 
weeks of practice work, follow out this plan in each 
case, writing your answers to the "tests'' fully and 
specifically. 



LESSON XIX 

PRACTICE WORK AND OBSERVATION (II) 

Refer to the general instructions given at the be- 
ginning of Lesson XVIII. After your practice work 
in a Primary class there should be a discussion of 
the results revealed by your tests. The other stu- 
dents who have been doing practice work will re- 
port in the same way and upon the basis of the same 
projects and tests. In this way it w r ill be possible 
for each of you to see many phases of the same situ- 
ation. 

You will now proceed to lay out certain projects 
in connection with the department. In order to do 
this it will be necessary for you, through the in- 
structor of your training class, to establish relations 
with the Primary superintendent in your school or 
some other to which you were assigned for this 
practice work. Do not approach the department 
in which you are to work in any spirit of criticism, 
or as a reformer. Enter upon the work humbly and 
as one who desires to learn and to help. 

Your first project will be related to the program, 
since you can better understand problems of en- 
vironment and records when approaching them from 
the point of view of the department superintendent. 
Your teaching experience should make it possible 
for you to appreciate the point of view of the teacher 
in the department in which you are working. 

177 



178 Methods for Primary Teachers 

It may not be possible for you to plan and carry 
out all of the projects suggested here. If sufficient 
time for practice work is given, it will be best for 
you to take each one in turn. If this is not possible, 
they may be divided among the different students 
in the training class and you will then work out the 
one assigned to you, report upon it and, in turn, 
profit by the experiences of the others. In the first 
four projects you will probably not be in charge of 
the program but will do this special part assigned 
to you. You must be very sure that each one of 
them is appropriate to the theme and plan of the 
entire program. This can be arranged through the 
conference with the Primary superintendent. 

Department projects (the program) — 

1. Direct a pre-session period for a class group, 
an informal group for scrapbook work, or 
a story for all the children who come early. 

2. Teach a new song, developing it through 
story, picture, conversation, or Bible verses 
(the song must be appropriate to the theme 
or season and approved by the department 
superintendent). 

3. Lead the children in prayer, thinking of their 
needs and their relations with the heavenly 
Father. 

4. Tell a story in the department program, 
either missionary, seasonal, or topical. 

5. Plan a program and conduct it. Base your 
plans upon the principles given in Lesson V, 
using the questions on that lesson as your 
guide. 



Practice Work and Observation (II) 179 

Tests- 
Did the children give evidence by their interest 
and response that they understood and en- 
joyed the song you taught? 
What was the result in your own heart and in 
the response of the children to the prayer you 
offered ? 
What was the aim of your story? What were 

the results in interest or action? 
In the program that you planned, was the ar- 
rangement as to time and sequence satisfac- 
tory? What was your underlying theme? 
Was there any spontaneous response on the 
part of the children? What improvement 
would you make as a result of your experi- 
ence? 



LESSON XX 

PRACTICE WORK AND OBSERVATION (III) 

The next phase of practice work will be in de- 
partment administration as it relates to environ- 
ment and the records. Review in your own mind 
your experiences in the department program. Was 
there anything in the environment which interfered 
with the program? Did the records and reports mar 
it in any way? Approach this new part of your 
practice work from the point of view of the de- 
partment superintendent. Make sure that your 
plans and purposes are understood by her. 

Department projects (environment and records) — 

1. Plan the arrangement of the Primary room. 

Refer to the paragraph on "Arrangement 
and Furnishings" in Lesson II. 
Make a seasonal poster. 
Choose two pictures suitable to the theme of 

the program or the season. 
Arrange the department superintendent's 

table with the necessary things upon it. 

2. Go to the Primary room during the week and 

become familiar with the supply cupboard 

or cabinet. 
Note the things that are in it. 
Make a list of the things that should be there. 

180 



Practice Work and Observation (III) 181 

3. Spend a half hour before the session at the 
desk of the department secretary. 

Note the form of records. 

Meet and talk with the children as they come 
in and note the various problems that 
present themselves. 

If the opportunity presents itself, take a new 
pupil to the enrolling secretary of the 
school and then place him in his class. 

Remain at the secretary's desk throughout 
the session. Make out, under her direc- 
tion the record for the secretary and 
treasurer. 

Tests— 

What interest did the children show in the pic- 
tures and posters you arranged at the front 
of the room? Was this interest spontaneous 
or the result of having their attention called 
to it? 

What relation was there between the posters 
and pictures and the program for the day? 

Were the materials, children's papers, and 
other supplies that are kept in the cupboard 
easily available to the teachers? Was there 
confusion in getting these and what was the 
cause of it? 

How could the work of the secretary be made 
more efficient and of greater service to the 
children and to the school? 



182 Methods for Primary Teachers 

In Conclusion 

See the paragraph at the close of Lesson XVII, 
under the heading "Practice Work/' concerning 
plans for carrying this work into the summer months. 

Some of the practice work you have done and 
observed may have seemed mechanical, but all of 
it has spiritual significance. Keep yourself keenly 
alive to this great fact. May you find a place in 
which to serve effectively and joyously as a teacher 
and friend of children. 



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